Creeping White
by SecretForKeeps
Summary: Edited and re-written version of my old story "Shadows in the Forest."  Netto and the gang go on a camping trip in the mountains, but the forest is not all it seems and they may not be prepared for the horror they are about to face.  Happy Halloween.
1. Chapter 1

Hello everyone! Some of you may or may not remember me, but I used to go by the name of Random Irony, and at one point long, long ago, RandomRathFan, if those names ring any bells. (Though if you do remember me, it would be from when the anime had it's own fanfiction category, rather than being lumped in with the Megaman games.) First, I'd like to start with an author's note here, because although I have not really been involved in the fandom for some time, AllyMoodyNeko (formerly blues-lover) reminded me of how much I used to love this series and this fandom. In particular, I really enjoyed writing my older 2007 story "Shadows in the Forest," which is still up and can be found via my profile. It was just so nostalgic, I couldn't take it down. But as I have obviously grown as a writer since 2007 and various aspects of this story bothered me, I am now posting this edited, re-written version, made longer and more suspenseful, with added scenes and details, for hopefully a more enjoyable story. The new title "Creeping White" comes from the mist and fog that seem to be present throughout most of the story, haha. The first chapter of the original was posted October 1st and the last on October 31st, so I'm hoping to replicate that, haha. (So rejoice! Updates will be frequent!)

Now, I'd like to kick this off by doing something I haven't done in a long time: A disclaimer. I am in no way affiliated with the /Megaman NT Warrior anime, manga, or any of the games.

So I think it's fairly needless to say, but this will be a horror story. Rating will be T for now, but I may actually decide to raise the rating. The characters are also all older than they were in the anime/manga, so no, there are no twelve-year olds driving around and camping by themselves. I will try to keep everyone in character as much as possible (because that was definitely an issue in the first version.) Also, aside from this being an edited and improved version of my old story, it will almost certainly deviate from the original and might even end differently, so look forward to that. A few songs I would suggest as good background music while reading this: "People Error" by the GazzetE, "Leaving on Red Hill" by Yoko Kanno (Wolf's Rain OST), and "Promise (Reprise)" from the Silent Hill soundtrack.

Now, please read and enjoy! Reviews are encouraged!

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><p>A dark green minivan drove down a small mountain road, trees towered over it from both sides. Few people lived in these dense woods, as they were prone to rain and fog 9 out of 12 months of the year, but on the days the sun did shine, the scenery was supposedly fantastic. But as it were, the car was currently surrounded by a light mist, and inside the van, the passengers were staring dully out at the dreary scenery.<p>

Riding shotgun was a boy with chocolate brown hair, pulled back out of his face with a blue headband. His warm brown eyes were skimming over the map he was currently engaged in trying to comprehend. Behind him was a pink-haired girl, leaning forward to get his attention. She cracked her gum and asked, "Hey Netto, how much further?"

He tilted the map slightly for a different perspective on it. "It's, uh…"

"Just over twenty miles," answered a voice from his pocket.

"Right, just over twenty miles, Meiru," the boy agreed.

She laughed. "Do you have any idea how to read that thing? Why don't you just let Rockman do all the navigating, I'd feel a lot safer that way."

He glared back. "Hey! I got us this far, didn't I?"

She glared back and responded playfully, "No, Enzan got us this far. He got us the van, too, and he offered to drive."

"Shh, both of you quiet down!" complained Enzan. "You'll wake up Yaito and Tohru."

Meiru leaned back in her seat and glanced at her other friends in the middle seat of the van with her. Tohru and Yaito were fast asleep, leaning on one another cozily, as they had been for the past hour or so. Their sleep went thankfully undisturbed, and Dekao, who was sitting in the back due to his huge bulk, was playing a game on his PET.

"Hey Netto," said Enzan with a lower tone of voice, "I know we're pretty close, but we're low on gas. Is there a gas station anywhere close by?"

Netto, who had gotten his bearings on their location somewhat, replied, "Yeah, there should be one just a mile or two up ahead. On the right, I think."

Enzan nodded as Blues, his netnavi, confirmed this and the next mile was spent in silence and watching for buildings or signs of a rest stop until, just as Netto had said, a gas station came into view on the right.

They pulled in to the station and the bouncing of the tires on the uneven pavement caused Tohru and Yaito to rouse sleepily. They blinked a few times before waking up completely, and Yaito yawned. There were no other cars, so Enzan pulled up to one of the fill stations with no problem. The van came to a stop and he hopped out. Dekao opened the side door and squeezed out from the back, muttering something about drinking too much soda. Netto stayed in the front seat, still looking at the map now that he had a better idea of where they were, and Meiru rested her head in her hand as she watched him in silence while blowing a bubble with her gum. It popped uneventfully and she continued chewing, her eyes never leaving the head of brown hair. Her eyes took in all of his features as his brow furrowed and his eyes followed the miniature streets and landmarks printed on creased and folded paper. He was probably easier to read than the map was. But her own features remained inscrutable.

Tohru and Yaito, realizing they were not yet at their actual destination, fell back asleep with Yaito's head resting on Tohru's shoulder and his arm comfortably wrapped around her to provide both warmth and affection.

"They're a cute couple."

Netto jumped, her voice had interrupted his thoughts so suddenly. "What? Oh, yeah, I suppose they are."

"Isn't funny? Yaito spent years chasing after Enzan, even though he made it clear he wasn't interested in her. But as soon as she realized he would never return her feelings, she was able to find happiness with Tohru. Sometimes people don't realize what they actually have until they stop chasing after what they think they want," she said contemplatively.

"Maybe," replied Netto off-handedly. "But people also may never accomplish anything great if they only settle for what they already have. There are all different circumstances," he grinned at her, before going back to looking at the map.

"Netto," she said, trying to gain back his attention. He looked over. "Do you remember what people used to say about us? About how we'd end up a couple when we got old enough?"

"Yeah, I remember. Silly wasn't it?" he laughed. "You're one of my best friends. I'd even say you're like the sister I never had. I can't even imagine us going on a date."

She averted his gaze, looking out the window. "Yeah, it'd be weird…" She suddenly felt cold and zipped up her jacket over the tank top she was wearing underneath. Circumstances, huh?

Netto was puzzled, and was about to ask if something was bothering her, when Enzan climbed back in and closed the door behind him. "Alright, we're set. Is Dekao still inside the station?" he asked, not aware of the strange conversation he was interrupting.

"Yeah, he's still in there. Maybe he's buying something to eat?" Netto answered.

"It's possible. He did already eat all of the chips."

"That Dekao. I thought he'd said he was starting a diet?" Meiru scoffed. "At this rate, he'll never lose any weight."

While they waited, Enzan went over the rest of their route with Netto and Meiru had a small conversation with Roll. Finally, Dekao walked out towards the van, his arms full of colorful bags which could only contain junk food. He opened the side door and climbed back into his seat. When confronted about his eating habits, he blinked obliviously. "I am dieting. Look." He pointed to a bag of donuts. It said in large block letters "NON-FAT." Meiru rolled her eyes, but said nothing.

"Hey, Enzan, are you tired? You wanna switch? You've been driving for awhile now," offered Netto.

He smirked. "No way. I'm not trusting you behind the wheel. You just got your license, there is no way am I letting you drive one of my company's cars." He started the engine.

Netto protested, "Hey! Isn't that being just a little hypocritical? Who's the one who drove into a mail box last week?"

Enzan scowled. "Shut up, Hikari." He turned on the radio to end the conversation. A song by some rock band was playing.

They sat in silence for awhile, the only noise the sound of the radio, until the sound started to grow fuzzy from bad reception and they turned it off. The mist grew heavier as they drove farther up the mountain, the small road winding around and leading them away from any civilization. The forest around them grew thicker and darker until it was impossible to see more than three feet into the mess of the trees and brush.

"Enzan, slow down," said Netto. "We don't want to miss the turn off."

The white-haired boy obliged, slowing the van even further as he drove carefully through the now-thick fog. He leaned forward and peered through the windshield, turning the headlights on, though they did little to cut through the white vapor obscuring his view of the road. He continued like that for awhile. "Hey Netto, how much farther?" When there was no reply, he glanced at the brown haired boy next to him. "Netto?"

"It should be really close," Netto answered finally. "Not even a mile." He looked up from the map. "Let's keep our eyes peeled."

"Jeez, you can barely see. Blues, what are the weather conditions supposed to be like up here for the next few days?" he directed the question to his PET attached to the van's dashboard.

"There should still be some fog in the morning for the next few days, but it looks like it will be mostly sunny weather," the red navigator answered.

"Well thank goodness for small miracles," muttered Meiru in the back.

None of them had ever come to camp at this location before. It was out of the way and had none of the advanced city technology they were used to. Their net navis would be of little use for anything other than email and basic internet functions. As the two up front were keeping a close surveillance, trying to make out a sign or marker of some kind, Dekao in back was happily chewing on his supposedly fat-free donuts, and Yaito and Tohru were snoring away, Meiru huffed and looked out the window. She was beginning to regret agreeing to come on this trip.

"Meiru, there's an email from your piano teacher," came Roll's voice from her PET.

Grateful for the break in the silence, she took it out and looked at the screen. "I'll read it now." She skimmed through the generic message about rescheduling this week's lessons, not really focusing on the words, but glad for something to do.

"There it is!" Netto suddenly exclaimed, pointing through the fog to a quaint wooden sign that read _Silvermann Campgrounds_.

"Guess you're good for something, Hikari," Enzan smirked as he carefully turned the van onto the drive.

"Hey! I take offense at that!" Netto exclaimed.

Enzan's only reply was to let his smirk grow wider. His main focus was on the uneven dirt road that had just replaced the pavement. Their van bounced around considerably and Enzan slowed down. "Well, here we are. Do we need to check in or something?"

"Yeah, there should be like a ranger station or check-in building just down this road." Sure enough, a small cabin-like building appeared ahead of them. Or rather, the glow of light from the windows appeared. The fog obscured much else.

They pulled in to the small parking lot. Despite its size, there were still plenty of free spaces. They could only make out three other cars. Enzan hopped out, heading towards the building. Meiru sighed and spit out her gum, depositing it into the bag of Dekao's trash. Netto opened his door and jumped out after his friend.

"Enzan, wait up! I'll go with you," Netto offered as he jogged to catch up to the older boy. "Since I made the reservation here, it might be good if I come along." They walked up to the front steps of the building and knocked on the heavy wooden door. They stood outside waiting for a good minute before they tried knocking again. Netto got the chills standing there outside and he rubbed his hands over his arms, wishing he'd thought to grab his sweatshirt.

"Is there anyone here?" Enzan wondered, looking around to peer at the window. "There's a light on…"

Netto tried the knob. The door swung open easily. "It's open, come on."

The two boys walked inside. It looked like what one would expect, with a small office littered with papers and books on wildlife and forest safety. The desk in front looked like the place where people would normally check-in, but there was no one sitting on the other side of the desk to help them. The lights were on and it looked like someone had been there recently enough, but no one was around.

"Maybe they patrol the area or something," said Netto, though it sounded like a question even to his own ears. "I mean, they might not have someone here at all times."

"I guess it's possible," Enzan shrugged as he looked around at the desk. "Ah. Yeah. Right here."

"What is it?" Netto peered over Enzan's shoulder. "Aha! Told ya. 'If no one is present, please leave your name, phone number, and the number of people in your party,'" he read off the sheet. "They might be understaffed around here."

Enzan laughed dryly as he signed them in. "It doesn't exactly seem like they get a lot of guests, huh? Great vacation spot. This is definitely worth taking off work for."

"Hey, it will be," Netto defended. "You're a workaholic anyway. Once the sun comes out, I think this place will be really awesome. There's supposed to be a waterfall and an old mining town still standing up here too. You have to hike to get to it, so there won't be a lot of tourists either."

"This just gets better and better." He made his voice sound spooky. "We'll be the only campers on a foggy mountain, all alone in the night, with only the ghosts of an old deserted town to keep us company. Not even the rangers will hear our screams!" He laughed as he left the small building.

"That's not funny, Enzan!"

"Don't tell me you're scared of ghosts, Netto."

"Not me!" He lowered his voice. "Meiru hasn't been in a good mood today, and I'm not sure why, but I don't think ghost stories will help right now. Yaito and Tohru might not deal with the idea too well either."

"Don't forget me!" came Rockman's voice.

Netto rolled his eyes. "I think we're all aware of how much you hate ghosts, Rock."

"Fine. But you've gotta admit, the place is looking pretty spooky so far. If not me, then someone will probably be telling ghost stories around the campfire tonight."

Moments later, the two boys returned to where the other were waiting in the van. "We're all checked in," said Enzan. "Let's get the stuff out and then we can hike out and find a spot."

"Hike_?_'" Meiru exclaimed. "With the all luggage and equipment?"

"It is camping, afterall," murmured Dekao from the back.

"This is as far as the road goes," explained Netto apologetically. "The rest is foot trails."

Meiru jumped out and then poked Yaito and Tohru awake. "Hey, you guys! We're here."

Tohru yawned. "Already?"

"You've been sleeping for two hours," his navi informed him.

"Oh. I guess that explains it." He stretched his arms and Yaito got all the kinks out of her neck from sleeping in an awkward position for so long. They both scooted out so that Dekao could climb over the middle seat to reach the door. Once they were all out and stretched after being cramped in the car for several hours, they headed for the trunk where their stuff was. Enzan started pulling all their bags out as Netto peered into the haze. "It looks like the fog might be clearing up!" he announced happily.

"That's good. It's giving me the creeps," said Yaito.

"You aren't the only one," said Dekao, looking around. "I couldn't really get a good look at what the guys were talking about up front, but man. You seriously can't see." Then the large teen started grabbing some of the luggage Enzan and Netto were pulling out of the trunk.

"It really does seem kind of spooky right now, huh?" asked Yaito as she looked around and shivered. Tohru wrapped his arms around her.

Dekao started inching towards Meiru, but the pink-haired girl chose that moment to go grab her own bags out of the pile that had formed next to the van. Once they had everything out, Netto was quick to take charge.

"Alright," said the brown-eyed boy. "It doesn't look it, but Rockman says it's mid-afternoon. Hopefully the weather will clear up, but we should get going so that we can have camp set up before it gets too dark." He grabbed a couple bags and soon the others followed his example, grabbing their personal luggage and pieces of camping equipment before trudging off along a trail that led out of the parking lot and into the forest.

"Wait! Enzan, should we lock the car?" asked Tohru.

"Blues."

"I'm on it, Enzan," responded the deep voice from the PET. The van's lights flickered and they all heard the recognizeable click of locks on the car doors, signaling that the automatic locks had been engaged.

Enzan looked back towards the group. "Are we forgetting anything else? You'd better remember now, because I don't want to have to hike back down here in the middle of the night."

No one said anything.

They continued along the trail and into the fog.


	2. Chapter 2

So, this chapter is pretty close to the original, with more description and a few new things added in. And hey look, what do you know, there's some sort of plot forming now! Anyway, I hope people are enjoying the story so far! Shockingly, I actually got a couple reviews, haha! So thanks for those. ;D

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><p>The group trudged along the path, kicking up dirt in their wake as they shuffled along under the weight of their luggage. Enzan was in the lead, and they followed the older boy for several minutes in silence. His tall figure, almost as tall as Dekao now that they were older, was steady and sure as they followed him further from the van and into the forest.<p>

"It's so quiet out here," noted Yaito, who was shifting her large pink duffle into a more comfortable position on her shoulder. And she was right. Not a bird was to be heard, nor the hum of bugs which were normally so common in the summertime, probably due to the unseasonable weather.

Tohru agreed. "It's really different from in the city. Kind of peaceful. I've always considered living somewhere like this."

"What are you guys talking about?" complained Meiru from the back. "I think it would be creepy to live in the woods all by yourself."

"Not to mention it's not exactly accomadating for us," said Glyde.

"Sorry guys," said Tohru as he took out his own PET to look at Iceman. "There doesn't seem to be anywhere to plug in. The technology isn't exactly up-to-date."

"It's okay, we understand," Iceman replied.

They passed by a small clearing where there appeared to be a group of people who had a site all set up. There was a large tent pitched and some supplies could be seen strewn about around where they probably built their fire. They glanced at it curiously as they walked past, but didn't see anyone.

"Let's set up camp a bit farther, so that we don't disturb anyone," said Netto. He bounded up the trail, excited. "This is gonna be great, I can feel it. We'll have parties, cooking our own food, roasting marshmallows, sleeping under the stars—"

"I thought we brought tents," interrupted Dekao.

"Well, yeah, but we're still under the stars."

"With a tent roof overhead."

"That doesn't matter!" Netto argued exasperatedly. "You're outside and not in a house or building with a real roof, and thus you are under the stars!"

"Jeez, you two," muttered Yaito. To Enzan, she called out, "Hey! Where are we going? We've been walking for awhile now and my arms are getting tired!"

"I'm just trying to find a spot with enough space for all of us," he replied back to her. The fog had regressed a bit and they could now see much more easily than they could before. Up ahead was what seemed to be the perfect spot, a small clearing off to the side of the trail, with a small ring of stones where it can be assumed people had made their campfires in the past.

When they reached it, Dekao dropped his bags. "I'm not hiking any further," he groaned.

"This spot's as good as any," agreed Enzan. They all dropped their luggage in a pile on the ground.

Netto grabbed one of the tents and held it up with a grin. "Who wants to help me set up?" he asked.

No one replied.

"Your enthusiasm is appreciated, but don't go volunteer all at once," he muttered sarcastically as he turned to set it up by himself.

Enzan sighed. "I guess I have to make sure you don't mess it up." He followed Netto over to a flat part of the clearing where they began unrolling the tent and pulling out sticks and stakes of sorts. Meanwhile, the rest took a seat on a fallen log that looked like it had been placed there for just that purpose.

Yaito started to squirm where she was sitting. "So, uh… Can anyone tell me where the bathroom is around here?"

Dekao shrugged. "Find a bush."

"What? Ew, that's disgusting! There's got to be a toilet around here somewhere!"

Having overheard her, Enzan pulled his head out from under the tarp he was setting up. "There was one at the check-in station where we parked. If you want to hike back down there, you can."

"I'll go with you if you want, Yaito," Tohru offered. "We probably shouldn't wander off alone in these woods."

As the pair set off down the trail again, Dekao stood up from the log and said to Meiru, "Come on, let's help Enzan and Netto set up camp. It's no good if we just sit around doing nothing." He grabbed some wood and matches and started building a fire. Meiru sighed, but got up to join him.

Camp was fully set up by the time the last light was fading and Yaito and Tohru had returned. There was one large tent for the four boys and a smaller one for the girls. They were all sitting around the campfire roasting hot dogs for their dinner. Dekao and Netto fought over the best spot over the fire. Inevitably, both of their hot dogs ended up falling into the flames. Otherwise, the night was spent comfortably enjoying each other's company.

Meiru yawned. "It's still early, but I'm so tired. I think I might go to bed early."

"But we haven't even had marshmallows yet! I brought stuff for s'mores!" interjected Netto incredulously. "That's the best part of camping!"

"Not to mention we haven't told any campfire stories yet," said Dekao.

"Stories? Like what?"

"Well, before we came here, I decided to do a little research on my own about this place," the larger boy started explaining.

"You? Research? Now I've heard everything."

The group laughed and Netto started pulling out the marshmallows and other sugary treats to make s'mores, since it seemed everyone was in agreement to stay around the campfire for at least a little while longer. He speared his marshmallow with a stick and then passed the bag around.

"Netto, you are not getting more than two s'mores," stated Enzan as he stabbed a marshmallow of his own.

"What, why?"

"In fact, you are not allowed to have large amounts of sugar of any kind. Your sleeping bag is right next to mine, and the last thing I need is to be kept up all night because you have too much energy. You're probably going to kick me or something anyway."

"Hey! I don't move around that much!"

"Quiet, you guys! Do you want to hear my story, or not?"

So they quieted down and Dekao leaned in closer to the fire.

"So once upon a time, this mountain was completely untouched by people. Not even travelers dared cross it's peaks because the forest was too dangerous and unknown. But one day, a man noticed that there were hints of gold residue in the stream that came down from the mountain. So he took a risk. He sold off everything he had and brought a mining team up the mountain with him. The land was unexplored, unmapped, but they followed the stream and started digging. Their work paid off. They struck gold. Soon a town sprang up and the man who first brought them up became mayor and the town was named after him. Silvermann, ironic considering he discovered gold and not silver. For a while, everything was going great. He had a family, wealth, power. The town was prospering.

"But then things started going wrong. After a while, they started producing less and less gold and fewer people came. Families started leaving as the gold ran dry. Silvermann, who had invested so much in the town, refused to leave, even as it became increasingly clear that there was no longer any future for the town. His wife and children begged him to move down off the mountain. His friends, the original miners who came up with him, tried to convince him as well. But he refused. He and his family remained there and in the cold winter months, his wife and children passed away one by one. He refused to acknowledge the reality of what he had done to his family, and in the spring his friends came to take him down the mountain. He was so delirious that he set fired to the town and he, himself, burned alive in his own home. It's been a ghost town ever since then.

"But the story doesn't end there." Everyone was sitting at the edge of their seats, watching Dekao's face as he told the story. He was unexpectedly good at it. The orange flames seemed to dance and lick at his face, casting dark shadows across his features. In the dark, his huge form could be mistaken for that of some great beast or demon, perhaps old man Silvermann illuminated by the flames of hell itself. His voice got quieter and more eerie. "They say that Silvermann still haunts the town, trapped in the burned remains of his old home. Sometimes, in the night, you can still hear his screams echoing through the forest."

The fire crackled suddenly and a log fell over, sending sparks in the air. Meiru gave a small shriek and Netto let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. Enzan laughed.

"Good story, Dekao," Yaito praised, despite the fact that she was clenching Tohru's hand tightly.

"Not exactly bedtime story material," said Meiru lightly, trying not to let on to the fact that she'd been scared.

They all tried to laugh off the story and enjoy the rest of the night which had cleared up enough to see the stars, which were far brighter than anything they could see in the city. When they were done with everything, they put the fire out and went to change for bed and go to sleep. They said their good nights and zipped up the tents. All was quiet. There was nothing but the sound of the leaves in the trees as they rustled quietly in the breeze.

And as all of them continued to sleep peacefully, the fog rolled back in, hiding the stars from view.

A sharp scream rang out, loud and clear from somewhere in the forest. Three of the four boys, sleeping so peacefully moments before, jolted awake.

Tohru sat straight up in his sleeping bag. "What was that?"

Netto was still bleary-eyed and not fully conscious, his hair hanging down in front of his eyes without his usual head band to pull it back, but Enzan was awake and completely still as his eyes gazed up, unfocused, and he sat listening. He glanced toward his PET, still in sleep mode. It was just past three, the digital numbers glowing softly in the darkness.

There was another scream. They could be sure of what they heard now, and this time it sounded closer.

The brown-haired boy was fully alert now. "Someone's in trouble!" Years of Net Savior training came into practice. He and Enzan grabbed flashlights and took their PETs off the portable docks where they were charging, and pulled on their shoes before leaving the tent. There was nothing suspicious outside. The light of their flashlights cut through the fog and illuminated the two tents and the ashy remains of their campfire from earlier. "The fog is back…" he whispered.

Enzan immediately went towards the second tent. "Are you two alright?" he whispered.

The tent flap was unzipped and Meiru stuck her head out. "What's going on? We heard screams."

"We don't know. Netto and I are going to check it out."

"Be careful," Yaito whispered from somewhere behind Meiru. The tent was zipped shut again. Normally they would be more than willing to help, but after hearing a scream in the middle of the night in a foggy forest, they were ready to leave it to the Net Saviors.

The two older boys set off down the path, pitch black except for the bobbing of the flashlights. "It sounded like a woman right?" asked Netto nervously. He was glancing all around him, his eyes wide to try and make out anything in the darkness.

"Yeah. It did."

"You don't think that it was…"

"A ghost?" Rockman asked, peeking out from the corner of his screen.

"Don't be stupid," countered Blues. "There's no such thing as ghosts."

They continued walking in silence, occasionally pointing their flashlights into the thick trees. Just in case. After a few minutes of this, another light appeared in the distance. It was another flashlight, held by a man.

"Hello!" he called out. He appeared to be in his thirties with short, dark hair and an unshaven face.

Netto waved and the two parties came to meet each other.

"Are you camping out here?" he asked.

"Yes, our group just got here today. Are you with another group who is out here at the moment?"

"Yeah, my wife and I and a couple of friends are out here for a few days."

Netto nodded. "I think we passed your tent on our way up."

"Probably. Did you guys hear a scream a while ago?" he said, abruptly changing the subject.

"We did. It wasn't us. You don't know where it came from?" asked Enzan.

"Nope, I was just out hoping to figure that out myself." He sighed. "You kids can go on back to sleep. I'll go down to the check-in station and see if I can find anything out from one of the rangers. If it's anything important, I'll let you know. You have a camp set up further along this trail, right?" At their confirmation, he continued. "Alright. You boys sleep well."

"Thank you. I hope nothing happened."

Enzan and Netto turned back as the other man went back the way he'd come.

When they were out of earshot, Enzan sighed. "It was probably some city girl who woke up to a spider in her bed or something stupid like that."

"Hmm. Maybe."

When they reached their tents again, they recounted to the others what had happened with the man they met on the trail. They decided to just get back to sleep.

"And Dekao never woke up?" asked Netto as he climbed into his sleeping bag.

"Nope. We should follow his example and go back to sleep," muttered Tohru, yawning. He looked like he was half-asleep already. Apparently, the scream hadn't bothered him too much. The other two settled into comfortable positions and followed his example, soon drifting into the land of dreams.

They had no clue that what would soon follow would be worse than their worst nightmares.


	3. Chapter 3

Ahh, I love October! I don't know about you all, but where I am, the autumn chill is making it's appearance. XD Okay, so a lot in this chapter got changed. First of all, the characterization was fixed a bit because Meiru was a total prissy bitch up to this point and Enzan was just too cool and other such stuff. Plus the important part of this chapter in the first version was… blargh. So yeah, needless to say, a lot is different and a lot will continue to be different from this point on, though I probably will keep a lot of aspects of the original story and look to it for reference.

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><p>It was early the next morning that Netto and Tohru decided to hike to the ranger's station to inquire about what had happened last night. The man that they met on the trail never returned to inform them of what happened, like he said he would. Most probably he had just been tired and whatever it was wasn't important enough for him to hike the extra way up the trail, but eitherway, they wanted to find out what happened. That left the rest of the group to cook breakfast. It also meant Netto and Tohru would probably eat last. Netto was unhappy about this.<p>

"Jeez, couldn't this have waited until after breakfast? I'm really hungry…"

"Your stomach can wait, Netto. We'll probably be back in less than an hour." Netto continued grumbling anyway.

The hike was uneventful. They meandered along the trail, passing the other tents. A group of people were out around the campfire. The smell of bacon permeated the air. Netto saw the man they'd spoken to last night and waved. He waved back, so Netto took that as invitation enough to walk up to them.

"Good morning! Did you guys sleep well?" asked the brown-haired boy.

"As well as can be expected in these woods," replied one of the ladies. "How about you boys?"

"Pretty good, yeah." He turned toward the man they spoke to last night. "Did you find anything out from the rangers last night? You didn't come by to tell us anything, so we assumed it wasn't a big deal, but still…"

"Ah, yeah. They said it wasn't anything to be worried about. I figured it wasn't worth waking you all up to tell you about it."

"True, thanks for the consideration," agreed Tohru.

"You didn't get any details? You don't know who screamed?" asked Netto curiously.

"Eh, sorry. I was a bit tired and didn't stick around to question the poor guy. He looked pretty tired himself."

"Alright. Well thanks, you guys enjoy your breakfast. I think I'm just gonna hike down to ask the rangers myself. If it was just some girl screaming about a spider in her bed, I wanna know. That way if we wake up to more screaming tonight, we'll know not to worry about it." He turned to Tohru. "You can head back to camp if you want. I shouldn't be long."

"Nah, I'll come with you. I'm kinda curious myself."

The two continued hiking downward, reluctantly leaving the enticing smell of sizzling bacon behind with a wave to the other group. As they approached the ranger's station, which also doubled as the check in, the two teenage boys got their first good look at it. The morning sunlight was a stark contrast to the fog of yesterday afternoon. It was a small, wood building, though not quite rustic enough to be called a cabin. It looked to have a door and two windows with old-fashioned shutters in front, but not much around its sides.

"The windows are dark. Do you think anyone's in there this early?" asked Tohru doubtfully. "Maybe they're still asleep."

"There's supposed to be someone here at all times. Let's try." He stood on the small stoop and knocked.

There was a moment's pause and then the door opened. A middle-aged man with a bushy mustache and glasses peered down at them.

"Can I help you?"

"Um… Last night…" started Tohru.

"Last night we heard a scream. We wanted to make sure everything was alright," said Netto.

The ranger paused for a second. It looked like he was thinking. "Oh! Yes, something did happen last night. Apparently, the group left some food out. A bear came by and gave them quite a fright. They left early this morning. But everything's fine. Just remember not to leave food out in the open."

"Oh. Okay, thank you," said Netto. "We just wanted to ask about that."

"Alright. You kids have fun out here," he said with minimal enthusiasm. The door closed again abruptly and the two boys stood there for a moment.

"Well, at least we know there was nothing too bad," said Tohru.

"A bear still sounds pretty bad to me," commented Iceman.

"Yeah. More detail would've been nice, but he did seem kinda tired. I feel bad for the guy, they're probably understaffed out here," responded Rockman.

Tohru nodded. "But if that's taken care of, if you don't mind, I'd like to use the bathroom while I'm here. You can go on ahead if you'd like."

"No, that's okay. I have to go too. After all, it's the only working toilet for miles around."

The toilets were old and looked like they weren't properly cleaned that often. Half of them were in need of plunging and smelled of something foul. The two held their breath and tried not to breathe too much as they quickly did their business. When the two were done, they hiked back up to their campsite. The smell of pancakes greeted them, a stark contrast to the stench of the bathroom.

"Mmm…That smells good…" Netto sniffed the air appreciatively.

"We saved you a whole pile, don't worry," said Yaito sarcastically.

"Yeah, dig in," said Dekao who sat nearby holding his stomach. He had probably eaten his fair share as well.

As Netto hastily piled pancakes onto his paper plate and smothered them with syrup, Tohru relayed what the ranger had said to the rest of the group.

"A bear, huh?" asked Dekao. "They didn't have to scream, whoever the person was. They woke everyone up."

"Everyone but you, that is," replied Meiru.

"What can I say? I sleep like a log."

Meanwhile, Enzan narrowed his eyes in thought and went back to their tents. Netto caught sight of this and wanted to follow him, but the revelation of sausages distracted him.

"It looks like we won't have to worry about food being left out. Rather, I think we're going to have to worry about having food left at all, once Netto's done," Meiru smirked.

Netto tried to argue, but his mouth was full. Rockman replied for him, "Netto eats like a bear himself. But at least I don't think you'll have to worry about him stealing food in the middle of the night."

Finally swallowing his food, the brown-haired net savior glared at his navi. "Hey, I'm not that bad! And you guys all ate already, so what are you complaining about?"

The rest of them continued to poke fun at Netto and Enzan reappeared from the tents, his brow furrowed.

"Something wrong, Enzan?" Yaito asked.

He shook his head. "No, nothing." He returned to where he'd been sitting on the log.

"So, what are our plans for today?" asked Yaito, dismissing the odd actions of her business rival.

"There's supposedly a waterfall near here," said Tohru. "And we could always go visit the old ghost town."

"A waterfall? Really?" asked Meiru, looking excited for the first time since they'd left.

"Yeah, it's about an hour hike, though. Not including the hike back. But if we decide to go to the old town, it's only a little farther up the trail."

"We could pack lunch and eat it there!" said Netto excitedly, despite the huge breakfast he'd just gulped down.

"That sounds fun," Dekao agreed.

"So, are we decided?" asked Tohru.

"Yeah!" said Meiru and Yaito together.

"We don't have a picnic basket," stated Enzan pessimistically.

"We can just use a paper bag or something."

And so, the group got to work making their sandwiches and packing them into a grocery bag they brought with them, along with a few water bottles. Once they were ready, they started the long hike up to the waterfall.

"What's the name of the waterfall, anyway?" asked Yaito.

"Name?"

"Yeah, don't waterfalls in parks usually get some cheesy name?"

"I don't know…"

"Victoria Falls."

Everyone looked at Enzan.

"The name of the waterfall is Victoria. I read about it earlier. Silvermann named the waterfall after his mother."

"Victoria… A pretty name," said Meiru contemplatively.

They were only twenty minutes or so into the trail when the path suddenly opened up into a bright field. It was fairly wide, and probably about one hundred yards in diameter. It was filled with tall grass and small white wildflowers.

"Oh, wow!" exclaimed Yaito.

"It's really pretty," agreed Meiru, bending over to pick a flower and gently sniff it.

"This is pretty cool," said Netto. "I bet if you sit down, you're completely out of sight." He wandered off the path a little bit and sat down amidst the grass. He was right, he had completely disappeared from sight. "Can you see me?" he called.

"Nope," replied Dekao.

Enzan, who was further ahead, called back to the group. "Hey! If we want to make it to the falls before lunchtime, we have to keep going!"

Netto hopped up from where he'd vanished among the flowers and ran to catch up with the other boy. The others walked briskly to catch up as well, taking their last glances around the beautiful field. Before they'd completely left it, Tohru picked one of the delicate little flowers and put it in Yaito's hair. The blond girl blushed shyly.

Meiru glanced back at the cute couple enviously then shot a quick look towards Netto. The boy chattered obliviously with Enzan up ahead.

"He doesn't think of you that way, you know."

Meiru's head turned to face Dekao. They were out of hearing range of the rest of the group, Netto and Enzan being farther ahead and Yaito and Tohru having fallen behind.

"What? It's kind of obvious how you feel about Netto."

She glared. "Is it? Well, excuse me for my unrequited feelings."

"I didn't mean anything by it. I was just…" Dekao looked at her guiltily. "I've liked you for a long time. Everyone knows that. And I know that you'll never like me back, but I still want you to be happy."

Meiru's eyes softened. She felt guilty for yelling at him now, but didn't know what to say. "Thanks," is what she decided on.

He smiled, then lumbered ahead to catch up to the other two boys. He called back to the rest of them, "Hurry up guys! I'm getting hungry!"

Meiru shook her head in amusement. Then she picked up her pace as well.

When they reached the waterfall, everyone stared up at the natural wonder. The trail led to the very bottom of the falls where water crashed down into a pool that continued on into a mountain stream. A set of old wooden stairs, damp from the continuous spray of mist, led to the top, where a small outcropping of rocks allowed hikers to peer down at the cascading water some 30 feet high. The trail continued past there.

"It's beautiful…"

Indeed it was. The large waterfall with foamy white water crashing over it's edge caused a fine mist to rise from it, cooling the air and creating rainbows in the warm sunlight.

"Where should we eat?" asked Netto, breaking their silence.

"I think right there is good," said Yaito pointing to a relatively dry area with stones large enough to sit on.

"Sounds good to me."

A couple of them had to share rocks, but everyone was comfortable and let their legs stretch out to rest on other rocks or dangle a few feet off the ground. The food was passed around, sandwiches handed out courtesy of Tohru. When they were done eating, they decided to linger around on the rocks and explore the waterfall. The rocks were slippery, but they ventured as close as they could without getting too wet or falling in.

Netto and Dekao were out the farthest, balancing precariously on wet, mossy rocks jutting out of the water. Enzan stayed back, checking his emails on his PET and the rest wandered around on the stones along the rest of the stream. They started picking up some of the smaller, more interesting stones and inspecting them. Tohru tried skipping a few of the smoother ones on the calmer parts of the water.

Meiru spotted something longer and lighter in color than the rocks. At first she thought it was a piece of driftwood, so she picked it up. She blinked a moment as she got a good look at it, then she shrieked and threw it away from herself. It landed near Netto, who hopped off of his rock and took a closer look at it as well.

"Oh my god!" he cried, and scooted backwards.

"What? What is it?" asked Tohru. Yaito peered over his shoulder to get a better look. Meiru had stopped her screaming, but her face was pale.

"Jeez, you guys, what is it?"

Before anyone else was able to get to it, Enzan had picked it up using his thumb and forefinger, so they all got a good look.

Dekao's eyes widened. "Is that—"

"Bones!" Yaito exclaimed.

The white haired boy pulled his arm back and tossed the dirty, brittle object across the stream and into some foliage. "There. It's gone. It was just some animal bone," Enzan replied calmly.

"It was not just an animal bone!" protested Meiru. "It was a human arm! It still had the hand, and the fingers, and…and…"

"It probably just looked like one. It couldn't have possibly been a real human arm," rationalized Tohru.

"Yeah, Tohru's right," agreed Netto, though he didn't look convinced by his own words.

"After all, what would a human bone be doing here?"

"I don't know about that, you guys," started Dekao. "At least part of the story I told you all last night was true. There were settlers up here, but some did die. It's not that improbable that after the winter, the snow melted and could occasionally wash the bones down, you know?"

Meiru shook her head. "Logical explanation or not, that freaked me out!"

"Just forget about it, Meiru," said Yaito, coming over to comfort her friend. "We've still got the rest of the day ahead of us! There's a beautiful waterfall, a fun mountain hike, a mysterious ghost town…" She trailed off, realizing the ghost town part might not have been the best thing to say to comfort the pink-haired girl.

"Meiru!" The girl looked down at the source of the voice, her PET. "There are way worse things than bones in the world, and it's never stopped you before! Remember you're out here to have a good time!" The pink navi smiled encouragingly at her operator.

Meiru looked between her navi and her friend and took a deep breath. Than she smiled and nodded. "Yeah, you guys are right! I won't let such a silly thing bother me!"

They all nodded in encouragement and then the group decided to gather their stuff and leave the waterfall behind, traveling farther up the hill to find the ghost town. Silvermann town.


	4. Chapter 4

So, I'm pleased to say that this chapter is completely new! Originally it was going to be an add-on to another chapter, but it ended up becoming long enough that I'm able to post it as an entirely separate, stand-alone chapter. And hey look! The plot will actually make sense now! XD If any of you know anything about ghosts or your typical horror story, it's pretty obvious where this is going, right? Haha…

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><p>The group soon left Victoria Falls far behind them as they continued hiking farther into the mountains. The trail was worn from the many visitors it had probably had over the years, but still the bushes surrounding the trail had grown over and at times they found themselves crawling through branches and pulling leaves from their hair. It didn't help that the clouds were now rolling in, covering the sun again. A light mist had begun to rise once more. But soon they saw a sign, worn and wooden with peeling paint. <em>Welcome to Silvermann Ghost Town <em>it said in faded yellow. Despite that, they didn't immediately see any actual sign of what could have been a town.

"This is it?" asked Yaito unsurely.

"It's gotta be here, you guys," said Netto. "This sign must just mark the border of the town, I bet the buildings and stuff are just a little further."

So they trekked farther and sure enough, the trees thinned out and the trail widened into something that resembled more of a road. The town itself was comprised of run-down buildings with broken windows. Every now and then there would be a plaque or sign, providing historic information or explanations.

_Here stands the remains of Silvermann Inn and Pub, established in 1893, once a center of life and entertainment where the townspeople could gather together to socialize._

"It's not too lively anymore, huh?" said Dekao.

The boards were weather-worn and rotting, looking exactly like what one might expect of a ghost town. The windows were mostly smashed, but the panes of glass that did remain was so dirty that it was impossible to look through them. Enzan peeked into one of the broken ones, squinting into the darkness of the pub.

"What's in there?" asked Netto, standing on his tip-toes behind the taller boy, trying to peer over his shoulder.

"Not much… Some tables, chairs, dishes. Nothing particularly…" He trailed off and his eyes widened.

"Enzan?" Netto asked curiously.

"It's… nothing," the black and white-haired boy responded curtly. He backed away from the window. "I think the shadows were just playing tricks on my eyes for a second. I really didn't see anything interesting in there. They probably removed anything of real value from the buildings long ago." He hoped Netto believed him, because he wasn't about to say what he really thought he saw, what he was almost sure he saw. It would be better not to mention it, if he could help it.

Netto frowned. "Hmm. I was hoping a ghost town would be cooler than this. Maybe some of the other buildings will be more interesting." He walked off towards Meiru and Yaito without bothering to glance inside for himself. He missed the sigh of relief that Enzan let out. On the other hand, someone else did notice.

"Something bothering you?"

Enzan tensed again, he hadn't even realized Tohru was there. The kid was quiet.

"I'm fine," he replied.

"You know, Enzan. You can open up to us a little, it wouldn't hurt to at least act like you like us a bit," Tohru said seriously.

"What are you talking about?" Enzan scoffed. "I like you."

"You like Netto. You wouldn't be here if Netto wasn't here."

Enzan narrowed his eyes almost thoughtfully. He could have lied if he'd wanted to. After years of working for his father's business, he had gotten more than enough practice. Or half-lies, even. He could have apologized and pretended that he just wasn't good with social interactions, which was true enough. But for whatever reason, he didn't bother correcting the other boy. He didn't particularly dislike any of them, but he couldn't say that he cared about them as much as he did Netto, one of the few people he considered to be his rival and friend.

Tohru sighed. "I won't pretend to know what you're thinking, but if you want to stay friends with Netto, you're going to have to get used to us too."

He walked away without another word, leaving Enzan standing by himself in front of the old building. He glared at the inn before following the others who were further down the road.

"Enzan," said Blues from the PET. "Is there really nothing bothering you? It's not like you to hold your tongue."

He pulled the red device out as he caught up with the others. "I'm fine, Blues. It's just that…" Enzan trailed off as he watched the group of friends, able to interact with each other so casually. When they got back home, they would all still be hanging out and enjoying each other's company while he would be returning to work. Once upon a time, he thought that maybe he could be one of them, be included in their circle. But as he got older, reality told him otherwise. "There's just no reason to contradict him anymore."

"Enzan…"

The boy smiled at Blues and held a finger to his lips in a silent request. The navi obeyed and Enzan returned the PET to his pocket.

"Enzan, come here!" Netto called. He was waving him over to where they all were, in front of a large home in the center of the town. "This is it! Silvermann's house!"

"What? But didn't it burn down?" he asked, pushing his earlier thoughts from his mind in an effort to sound casual.

"Apparently the fire wasn't big enough to destroy it," answered Yaito. "Though it did spread to the rest of the town, the weather was probably damp enough that it didn't last as long as it could have. That's why there are still so many buildings."

"And look," Dekao grinned. "The door is open." He barely had to push for the door to creak open, swinging slowly on it's old hinges.

"Wait, we're not going in there, are we?" Meiru's eyes were wide.

"You're not scared, are you?" teased Yaito.

"Miss Yaito, please reconsider!" exclaimed Glyde. "The building is old and surely unstable! You could be seriously injured!"

"And isn't it supposed to be h-haunted?" asked Rockman nervously.

"Let's just check it out, really quick! How often do you get the chance to explore the supposedly haunted home of a ghost town's mayor?" Netto grinned.

And it truly did look haunted. With the sky darkened by clouds, the charred walls of the building looked even blacker. Unexpectedly, most of the windows on the bottom floor still remained, though the top ones were completely shattered and the roof had caved in over various spots. The two-story building loomed over most of the others, larger and more foreboding. Once upon a time it was probably quite grand.

"You guys, really," said Tohru. "This isn't safe."

"Aw, don't be a spoil-sport!" Netto pouted.

"Yeah, Tohru," Enzan smirked. "You can stay out here if you want."

Tohru glared. "I'll go."

Netto blinked, not missing the tension between the two, but he decided to ignore it for now. He made a mental note to bring it up later, when they were back at camp. Dekao was already stepping into the dark house, Meiru and Yaito following closely after him.

The inside was smaller than it seemed, but that might have been due to the fallen beams and mounds of burnt furniture that restricted the number of places they could actually walk. More than once one of them tripped over unseen obstacles in the darkness. The only light shining in was the dim light from outside that made it through the dirty windows.

"We should have brought a flashlight," whispered Yaito. Though there was no reason to whisper, it felt odd talking at normal volume in a place like that.

As they walked, little clouds of dust were stirred up into the air. They passed the front room, probably a sitting room, and found themselves in what seemed to be a study. Shelves full of half-burnt books lined the shelves and charred remains of papers and knick-knacks littered the desk in the corner. Enzan walked over and tried to make out what was written on some of the papers, but to no avail.

"Can you imagine?" whispered Netto. "Once upon a time this was someone's stuff, someone's home. It was probably their everything, now it's nothing."

"That's too depressing, especially coming from you Netto."

"I can't help it! This place is really creepy!"

"Hey you guys!" called Dekao. "Look, the stairs are still intact!"

Sure enough, they all followed his voice back out and a set of stairs leading up to the second floor was more or less untouched by the fire. There was nothing blocking the path either, and the windows leading up were missing their glass panes, letting in enough light to see by. If one ignored the destruction behind them, the stairs might almost look normal.

"I don't think we should go up there," said Meiru quietly.

"Oh, come on! We've come this far. Just a peek?"

"Either way," started Enzan, "It looks like we're not the only ones to sneak in here." He gestured to the stairs. They were covered with a thick layer of dust like the rest of the house was, but they were able to make out several places where it had been disturbed; footsteps.

"See? It's got to be relatively safe!" Dekao made the first attempt up. He was suitably cautious, testing each step before putting his full weight on it, but the stairs held. Soon the rest of them were following him up.

"Wow," whispered Yaito. Upstairs was more visible than the downstairs portion, and they could see the black marks where the flames had climbed up the walls. Miscellaneous items were scattered all over the place. Just from what they could make out, there was a set of silverware scattered across the floor along with the charred remains of a doll, the hair all burnt away and its dress in tattered pieces. Crumbling papers and broken furniture were everywhere.

They wandered into the first room, the stringy remains of curtains draped over the windows and what was probably once very fine furniture was completely destroyed. There was a large hole in the floor where it had caved in and they were all careful to stay away from it.

"Hey guys, I think it might rain," mentioned Tohru as he glanced out the window.

"We should probably head ba—Meiru! Dekao!" Netto's disappointed phrase was suddenly cut off as he shouted at his friends.

They jumped and spun to face him, knocking over the reason for Netto's alarm. The broken remains of a skeleton crumbled to the floor, causing Meiru to shriek and Dekao to yell out. They both jumped back and knocked into a cabinet, which was so destroyed that it fell apart and revealed two more smaller skeletons, obviously children once upon a time. One of the skulls fell forward, dislocating from the spine, and rolling forward to grin up at Netto, the eye sockets deep and black. Netto fell back into Enzan, who steadied him.

"Let's get out of here!" screamed Yaito, who dashed down the stairs, Tohru right behind her. Enzan pushed Netto to get him to move and the boy seemed to come to his senses. He helped up Dekao and Meiru who were scrambling away, too frantic to bother standing up and then the rest of them followed Yaito and Tohru, rushing out of the house as fast as they dared.

When they were outside, they all stopped, looking up at the old house which now loomed over them, more foreboding than ever. Meiru was trembling.

"Is everyone alright?" asked Netto, ever protective of his friends.

"I didn't think that… I didn't even imagine that there would be…" Dekao trailed off into silence.

"No one could think that there would still be bodies in there after all these years," spoke Enzan reassuringly. "It's no one's fault. They should've had new locks put on the doors, even if the buildings are old. It's obvious that people would want to look inside."

Dekao nodded but still looked unconvinced.

"Let's go back, guys," persuaded Tohru. "Please. It's too creepy here and if it starts raining…"

Yaito nodded emphatically in agreement.

So the group hurried down the trail, moving much more quickly than when they were coming up. And it wasn't just because they were hiking downhill.

That night, the group settled around the campfire, but no one was really in much of a mood for telling stories or chatting. They had been pretty somber ever since returning from the ghost town, cooking and eating in silence.

"You guys, should we… tell someone what we saw?" asked Meiru hesitantly.

"But I can't imagine they don't know about it already," said Yaito quietly.

"And if we tell people how we found those bones, we could get in trouble," agreed Dekao.

"That shouldn't matter," argued Netto. "We have a duty to at least tell someone about the bones. Leaving them there like that is just not right."

"We could be nonchalant about it!" said Tohru. "We could ask the ranger what happened to the people that burned in the town. If he says they were all buried, we can tell him what happened. But if he says that they were left in the buildings for whatever reason, then we don't have to tell him we saw them."

"Well, what if they do say that the bodies were moved? That there shouldn't be any there?"

"We could move them ourselves," suggested Enzan quietly. "There was a hole in the floor, remember? We could pretend they fell down and we spotted them from outside. Yeah, we'd have to move the bodies, but then at least we could tell people about them without giving away that we were there."

All of them were silent for a moment.

"…Let's make that Plan B," said Netto. "First we'll ask about the bodies and we'll only resort to that if there's no other ways."

"Agreed," said Enzan with a shrug and the others echoed him.

Yaito sighed. "Somehow, I think I'm going to have a hard time getting to sleep tonight..."


	5. Chapter 5

This story is so clichéd, huh? XD There isn't much by way of originality here. This just goes to show how many cheap horror movies I've seen. Speaking of, this story was more or less born due to inspiration from titles like _The__Blair__Witch__Project_and _Silent__Hill,_so I suppose it's to be expected_._ (And also a fanfiction titled _Sundance__Kid,_which is incomplete, but y'all should read it anyway, if you haven't already!) Anyway, I hope you enjoy the new direction this story is taking!

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><p>The next morning, everyone awoke to silence. There was no wind in the trees, no birdsong. Just the silence.<p>

Enzan ran a tired hand through his dual-colored hair and slid out of the warm cocoon of his sleeping bag. He sighed as he started pulling on some new clothes for the day. "Blues, what time is it?" he murmured sleepily.

"It's nearly nine o'clock. Also, I should inform you that you have received several emails."

"Ignore them," he responded. He started shaking Netto awake.

"One of them is from your father."

"Ignore them," he repeated with more emphasis. Blues said no more.

Bleary eyed, Netto finally awoke and sat up, his hair resembling a bird's nest. "Hmm… What time is it?"

"It's nearly nine. We overslept."

The brown-eyed boy cracked a grin. "You? Oversleep? I don't believe it."

"I'm only human," the older boy grumbled, focusing on pulling on his shoes. "Wake up Dekao and Tohru so we can get breakfast going."

"Yeah, yeah…" Netto turned to nudge his other friends awake. Next to him, Tohru was a small mound beneath the covers of his sleeping bag, trying to steal the last few moments of sleep. But on the other side of him… "Dekao is gone!"

"What?" Enzan finally looked up. Dekao's sleeping bag lay out, perfectly straight and orderly with his duffel at the head. But the large mass that was Dekao was conspicuously absent.

Netto got out of his sleeping bag now, more alert than before. "He must have gotten up before us. Right?"

"Just get Tohru up, I'll go find Dekao."

Netto nodded as Enzan climbed out the tent flap. He turned to his other friend. "Tohru! Hey Tohru, wake up!" He shook his shoulder lightly. "Come on, it's morning already! Let's not waste the day!"

Tohru stirred and peeked out, his eyes squinting in the morning light. They turned and focused on Netto. He blinked, and remembered where he was, climbing the rest of the way out of the sleeping bag.

Netto smiled and was about to leave the tent to join Enzan when he felt a hand pull him back. He turned and looked back at Tohru again.

"Netto, I was thinking last night. It might be best if we leave early, and go back home. I mean, I doubt anyone is going to want to go back to the ghost town, and…"

"You could be right," Netto agreed reluctantly. "But let's just give it a little more time. We came all this way, we can still have fun camping even if we don't hike back up to the ghost town."

Tohru looked like he disagreed, but didn't say anything else. Netto gave him a reassuring smile and slipped outside.

Though it was light out, with the sun shining brightly down on their campsite, the forest still seemed dull and muted. Shadows of trees slipped in and out of sight around their campground and the forest floor was still damp with moisture from the night. The only sound to be heard was that of rustling and hushed voices from the tent where Yaito and Meiru had slept. Netto shivered and looked around for Enzan and Dekao.

Enzan was pulling out bags of food by their firepit to start making breakfast. But Dekao wasn't outside.

Enzan looked up when Netto appeared. "Dekao isn't out here, I've already looked around."

"Huh. That's funny. I would've expected him to be making breakfast or something," said Netto.

"Maybe he went to the bathroom? He did drink a lot of root beer last night." Tohru had appeared just in time to catch the tail end of their conversation.

Netto shrugged and Enzan didn't reply.

The brown-haired boy looked between his two friends. "Did something happen with you two? You've both been acting weird since yesterday." Despite how oblivious he often was, he was attentive enough to notice when two of his friends weren't getting along and it bothered him.

"Nothing happened," Enzan reassured.

Tohru lifted a shoulder in a half-hearted shrug.

Netto decided to let it go, but he decided to keep an eye on the two of them, regardless. So, without further conversation, the three boys decided to go for a cold breakfast and grabbed their plastic bowls and filled them with cereal. The two girls still in the tent appeared a few minutes later and likewise helped themselves.

"Dekao's been gone for awhile, even if he did go down to use the bathroom…" Yaito spoke up after finishing her bowl of cereal and a piece of fruit.

Meiru pulled out her PET. "I'll try calling him. Roll, can you get in touch with Gutsman?"

"I'll get right on it, Meiru!" the pink navi responded. There was a moment as they tried to connect wirelessly, but either the signal wasn't good enough or Dekao's PET wasn't on, because the connection wouldn't go through. Roll sighed. "I'm sorry, I can't reach Gutsman."

"It's okay, Roll. Stupid Dekao probably forgot to charge his PET, now of all times."

"Maybe someone should head down and check for him," Tohru said worriedly.

"I'll go," volunteered Netto.

"Me too," said Yaito and Meiru at the same time.

"We can all go," said Enzan, standing up.

No one complained about his decision and the group piled their garbage into a plastic bag before heading down to the station where they hoped to find their friend.

There was no wind, no rustling of leaves, no animals stirring. The forest remained strangely silent.

Netto suddenly stopped in the middle of the trail. The others kept walking, not noticing that he had stopped following. But Enzan glanced back at his friend.

"Wasn't this where that other group was camped out?" Netto wondered, staring into the trees.

Enzan's eyes narrowed. "Yeah…"

He walked over to where they had seen the two tents set up and crouched down. It was completely deserted. Not a thing left behind to show that someone had been camping there. No charred remains of a firepit, no sign of a tent being pitched. Not even footprints.

"This is weird," Netto muttered, standing back with his arms crossed.

Enzan stood up from the ground, and decided not to voice any suspicions. "Let's just keep going. They must have left early this morning."

Netto nodded uncertainly and followed the white-haired boy.

By the time the group got down to the parking lot and ranger's station, it was later in the morning. The sun was climbing high over the mountains, directly overhead. But over the ridge of a mountain, they could see more clouds rolling in. As it was…

Meiru was turning about, looking around her, while Yaito and Tohru headed towards the bathroom to check for their friend.

"So, where's Dekao?" asked Meiru. "Where could he have gone?"

"He wouldn't just up and leave," muttered Netto, confused.

"He couldn't possibly leave," said Enzan. "I've got the keys." He pulled them out of his pocket. They jangled softly in the quiet atmosphere. "I'll go check the van, just in case." He strode off in the direction they'd parked.

"I'm going to inform the ranger," said Meiru, who hurried up to the cabin-like building and knocked on the door, pounding hard enough that they would wake up had anyone still been asleep.

There was no answer.

"What the hell?" said Meiru. "Isn't there supposed to be someone here at all times? Maybe he's out in the woods somewhere?" Meiru probably meant that sentence to be a statement, but it came out more like a question at the end.

Netto shook his head. "No, there's supposed to always be someone here!" He pushed past Meiru to knock again, louder and more insistently. When there was no response, he started yelling, "Come on! Someone's gotta be in there! Our friend is missing! Hey!"

Tohru and Yaito returned from the restrooms around the building, while Enzan walked back towards them from the parking lot.

"There's no response from inside," Netto said angrily.

Enzan went to peer through a window. "Nobody's in there."

"Well, if we can't contact Dekao, at this point I think we should try calling the local authorities. Glyde!" Yaito called.

There was no response.

"Glyde! Answer me!" She pulled out her PET, but the screen was flickering and all that could be heard was the faint sound of static. "What the hell?"

The others all pulled out their PETs, only to find them in the same state.

"I was just talking to Roll earlier, what could possibly have caused this?" Meiru exclaimed.

"Dammit…" Enzan cursed, fiddling with the controls on his own PET. He ran an agitated hand through his white locks. Then he turned and strode purposefully back towards the van. "Something strange is going on. I'm going in to town to find the authorities."

"I'll go with you!" Netto immediately suggested.

"No!" Enzan said, a bit more firmly than he probably wanted to. "No, you have to stay here. You're the only other official and we should at least try to find Dekao ourselves during the time it takes to get someone out here. Try going up the trail again. I'll go into town to find the police. Though it hasn't been long enough to file any kind of missing persons report, I can at least complain about the lack of staff here for emergencies like this."

He pulled Netto with him over to the van and talked in a hushed voice so that the others wouldn't hear. "Something really strange is going on. The park officials are gone, there's absolutely no trace of that other camping group, Dekao is missing, and now the PETs are all malfunctioning and I can't explain it even though I helped design the damn things!"

Netto's eyes widened. Enzan didn't curse often, so when he did, it usually meant he had good reason to do so. "What do you think is happening, then?"

The older boy shook his head. "Honestly, I have no idea. So keep everyone together and don't let them get too scared. The good weather might not hold up either, and that might make things worse and make them uneasy. Don't act like anything is wrong." Enzan put a hand on his shoulder. "You're good at that, making others happy." He gave a weak smile.

Netto nodded and stepped back as Enzan pulled open the door on the driver's side and climbed in. He closed the door behind him and started up the engine, the noise cutting into the silence. Rolling down the window, he yelled to them, "It's about a forty minute drive into town, but I don't know how long I'll take. I'll try to be back before nightfall."

Netto nodded seriously, Enzan's instructions still clear in his mind.

"Good luck!" called Tohru as Meiru gave a weak wave.

Then the van drove off, disappearing into the fog, leaving the four teenagers to stare after it in silence.

"Okay," said Netto assertively, breaking the tension and turning to the rest of the group. "Even if we can't find the park ranger, we should start searching for Dekao on our own. There are only four of us, so we have to stick together. We'll all head back up to our campsite together, and then we can try to figure out where he might've gone from there, yeah? He's gotta be around here somewhere."

Yaito bit her lip and nodded nervously, while Tohru and Meiru looked unsure but willing to go along with his plan. Netto turned to lead the way back to their tents, and smiled at them reassuringly.

He hoped he looked more confident than he felt.

Their hike back up was uneventful. All of them had their eyes peeled for any sign of the larger boy, but to no avail.

"Do you think he's alright?" asked Meiru quietly. She hoped to god nothing bad had happened.

"Despite how he looks, Dekao's pretty resourceful, right?" said Tohru hopefully. "He can probably take care of himself just fine."

"Probably?" asked Yaito, turning wide, wet eyes to her boyfriend.

"Definitely," Tohru corrected. He smiled at her. "Wouldn't it be funny if we got back and he was there waiting for us, wondering where we all had gone off to?"

But soon they were back at camp and everything was just as they had left it. There was still no sign of their friend.

Netto turned to the group, once again taking it upon himself to act as a leader. He wished Rockman was there to help. "Sorry to state the obvious, but Dekao isn't here. But he couldn't have left, which means he's got to be around here somewhere! And remember, besides just Dekao, we should also try to find one of the rangers or any other people that might be out here." He paused indecisively for a moment.

"We could just start checking our campsite again? Maybe there's a clue or something with his things?" suggested Yaito. "Did you guys check his bags? Maybe he even left a note and we were all so worried we didn't even think to check."

"Good idea!" said Tohru, relieved to have something to occupy his thoughts. He turned to Netto. "Maybe Yaito and I could inspect his things and Meiru and you could check around for footprints. Especially since the ground is so wet and Dekao's shoe size is so large, you'll probably be able to figure out at least which direction he went if you look hard enough."

They all nodded in agreement and the four of them now moved with purpose towards the tent. Tohru and Yaito slipped inside while Netto and Meiru crouched down beside the tent to inspect the ground for footprints.

"Hmm, the ground was damp, so there should be some sign of prints. It's just all these leaves and rocks that are in the way…" muttered Netto to himself.

"Netto," Meiru started, her voice quivering just a bit. "You don't think… anything really bad could have happened, do you?"

"Hm? Like what?"

"Like… I don't know, what if he was kidnapped or something?"

Netto shook his head firmly. "No way. I mean, we were all sleeping next to each other. If someone had, for whatever crazy reason, decided to drag Dekao away in the middle of the night, we would have woken up. Eitherway, it's Dekao and that guy is big. There's no way he would've been easy to sneak out of a tent even if he didn't wake up. No," he repeated, "Right now I'm thinking he's probably lost. Maybe he had to pee in the middle of the night, so he walked into the woods to do it, but then got disoriented and started walking in the wrong direction to get back."

The surprisingly sound logic coming from the Net Savior put Meiru at ease, so she took a deep breath in an attempt to keep her tears at bay. "Yeah. You're probably right."

Suddenly, she found herself pulled into a tight hug, her face pressed into the chest of her childhood friend.

"Don't worry," Netto whispered. "We'll find him."

She finally let out a small sob and buried her face in the soft fabric of his vest, wrapping her arms tight around his back. She just needed something to hold on to, she needed to stop thinking and worrying. For just a moment, she needed to pretend there was nothing else in the world but her and Netto.

For only a moment.


	6. Chapter 6

I love October, the beginning of autumn~ Spent yesterday picking apples and berries, running around a pumpkin patch and wandering through a corn maze with my friends, haha! Then I spent this weekend home alone and watching bad horror movies. :P _Dead & Breakfast _is completely and utterly ridiculous, if anyone needs something to laugh at.

Anyway, this chapter has a fun new addition. I haven't been getting many reviews, so I hope people are enjoying the story!

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><p>Tohru and Yaito were inside the tent, sitting on their knees on Tohru's sleeping bag as they searched around Dekao's things. His sleeping bag had been empty, as expected, so now they were unzipping the duffel bag the larger boy had packed.<p>

"I feel bad going through his things like this. It's an invasion of his privacy, afterall," whispered Yaito. When she got no response, she looked up at her boyfriend. "Tohru…? What is it?" She looked in the direction he was staring and gasped.

Peaking out of one of the duffel's many pockets was a PET device. Dekao's PET device.

"Why is his PET still here? He doesn't have it with him?" Tohru asked, though the question was directed at no one in particular. He pulled it out and tried turning it on.

"Does it work?" Yaito asked urgently.

They were met with the same disappointing results as the other PETs.

"So we can't even try asking Gutsman about where he went!" Tohru shoved the device back in the bag angrily.

"Wait! We should take it with us!" Yaito grabbed it and put it in her small bag with her own PET. "They might start working again later or maybe Enzan can figure out what's wrong with them! Eitherway, we shouldn't leave it here."

Tohru gave a frustrated sigh, but acknowledged the logic in her words. He nodded and grabbed her hand. "Come on, let's go back outside. Maybe Netto and Meiru had better luck than we did."

Outside, Netto and Meiru were starting a small fire in the campfire ring and preparing a pot of water.

"What are you two doing? Did you find anything?"

Meiru shook her head slowly. "There are so many footprints around here from the last few days that it was impossible to tell if Dekao had gotten up and gone somewhere in the middle of the night."

"We're making hot cocoa," Netto replied to the first question. "Maybe it'll help us calm down. Do you two want any?"

They nodded and sat down beside their friends.

"We found Dekao's PET," said Yaito suddenly. She pulled it out to show them.

"What?" Netto abandoned the logs he was attending to in order to reach out for the small electronic device. There was no doubt about it. The color, the design, it was definitely Dekao's. His thoughts were racing. It was in times like these that he wished he could think like Enzan. Enzan was always calm and logical. Netto let his emotions take too much control. He wanted to be able to come up with some reason as to why Dekao wouldn't have his PET when walking off into the forest, but he just couldn't think of anything. He wanted to say something reassuring, something that would make sense and keep everyone calm, so that he could keep his friends from getting too upset.

What was wrong with him? Netto tightened his grip around the PET. He had promised Enzan he'd take care of everyone until he got back…

He jumped as he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Tohru.

"We'll find him. Don't worry."

Netto nodded. It was all he could manage at the moment.

* * *

><p>Enzan pulled into the parking lot of the small, local police station. The sound of the rumbling engine died as he turned the key and pulled it out. He stepped out with confidence, slamming the door behind him, and strode forward to the entrance.<p>

He pushed the glass door open, bells jingling as he stepped inside. The noise surprised him—this wasn't some convenience store or gift shop. But he didn't let himself get sidetracked and he looked around, his eyes landing on the receptionist's desk. The man sitting at it looked mildly curious as Enzan flashed his Net Savior badge and requested to speak with an officer.

"On what business?" the man asked, pushing his square-framed glasses up on his nose.

"It's in regards to the Silvermann Campgrounds. An… acquaintance of mine has gone missing, and I realize that a certain amount of time needs to have passed before he can officially be declared missing, but the fact is, we can't find any of the park officials. Am I right in assuming there should always be someone present in case of an emergency?"

"Yes, I suppose so, but…"

"Then I would like to request that someone at least be present to help us find a missing person until he can be officially declared lost, though I hope it doesn't come to that. If you could either contact the Silvermann staff or send a police officer back with me, it would be greatly appreciated."

The man sighed. "Look kid, I'm sorry, but we're just a small, local station. We're understaffed around here and from what I understand, the forest rangers aren't exactly overflowing with helping hands either. You probably just went at a bad time when they were all out, if you check the ranger's station again, you might find somebody. Unfortunately, we can't afford to send someone out unless it's a legitimate emergency. Are you sure this acquaintance of yours isn't just playing a practical joke or something?"

Enzan narrowed his eyes. "You aren't going to help me, are you?"

"It's not that I don't want to help you, kid. Really, it's just…" He trailed off and seemed to ponder something for a moment. Then he turned and looked Enzan straight in the eye. "Listen, if you want some real advice, don't go back up to Silvermann's."

Enzan blinked. "What did you just—"

"Now, if you don't mind, I've got work to do. Have a nice day." The man waved him off dismissively.

"You—"

"Don't make me have someone drag you out, boy." He said it almost jokingly, but it was clear the threat was real.

Enzan glared, but turned on his heel and strode back out the door to the van. It seemed he had a little research to do. He would be damned if he returned to his friends empty-handed.

If there was one thing Enzan had become good at over the years, it was getting information. He spent hours at an office desk almost every day, had the patience to read through even the most dry business documents, and tons of resources at his disposal. He wanted to research the area around Silvermann, and so Enzan soon found himself in the local library. It was a tiny building, nothing like the large structure in the city and it had no where near as many books. But he was looking for only a few specific ones that pertained to this area, so he trusted he would be able to find what he was looking for.

He walked in and looked around. There were rows of shelves, and he wasn't entirely sure where he wanted to start. Information about the campgrounds specifically would have been helpful, but he would work with what they had.

"Excuse me, can I help you?" He spun around and found himself facing a small, frail-looking woman. A nametag pinned to the front of her blouse revealed her to be the librarian.

"Uh, yes. Would you happen to have any documents on the Silvermann Campgrounds?"

The old woman had appeared pleasantly helpful just a moment ago, but suddenly she became a bit guarded. "What do you want to know about them campgrounds for?"

Enzan felt that the truth would not be the way to getting what he wanted. "I'm doing some research for a school project," he lied. "We're supposed to look up attractions with historical backgrounds and I heard about Silvermann on the internet. But I figured this library would have the most information. Am I right?"

The lady's shoulders relaxed and she nodded. "Yes, we're the closest town to Silvermann and a lot of the old town's records that remain are stored here."

"And information on the campgrounds themselves?"

"Yes, I'm sure we have something."

"Might I find some more information by just going to the campgrounds themselves?" he asked, keeping up with his lie.

"No!" she answered quickly. "You will find nothing there," she added, a bit more calmly. "You needn't bother going all the way out there."

Enzan narrowed his eyes, but thanked her for her help. He was right in looking for more answers. The people in this town were acting too suspiciously. While the librarian went to find him some books, he took out his PET. It had started to work again after he was about a fifteen minutes drive away and he wasted no time getting a message to Dr. Hikari about their situation. But he still hadn't received a reply. He pocketed it again in frustration.

Moments later the old woman returned with a small pile of books, their binding coming apart and their pages yellowed with age. He thanked her and she gave him a last, lingering look before returning to whatever it was she had been occupied with before he arrived. He watched her walk away before picking up the first book in the pile. _Famous__Ghost__Towns,_read the title. He looked in the table of contents to see that the third chapter was about Silvermann, so he turned to that chapter and began to read.

There was a lot of basic facts, things he already knew—all about how it became a successful mining town, thanks to a man named Thomas Silvermann, who then became the mayor and raised his family there. But then came the interesting part—the part that started the ghost story. He read further, focused intently on the words in front of him.

"Wait a second," he murmured. "'While most of the town moved back down the mountain before the winter cold could set in, Silvermann and his family remained behind. No one heard from them until the snow thawed out in the spring. But the people of the town nearby saw smoke rising up from the mountains, and when they finally were able to make the journey back up to the town, they found it blackened from fire. Silvermann and his family all died in their home, and no one was able to verify whether or not the fire was an accident. Their mysterious deaths have led to many ghost stories surrounding Silvermann Ghost Town.'"

Enzan rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Dekao's story held some truth to it—but no one knew the real story. It was entirely speculation. Just to double-check, he went through the other books, but none of them said anything too different. They all maintained that there was a fire, but no one knew how the fire started, or why. It was strange, in this day and age, that someone never would have investigated the incident further, at least from a historical perspective.

He decided to look through more recent documents to double check. Many of these books were older, around 30-40 years, which could either mean that no one had investigated the town recently or the library simply didn't have enough funds to buy the most recent books. But they would have kept all the newspaper records, so he decided to browse through those.

Enzan checked the time. It was getting late. If he didn't leave soon, he wouldn't be getting back before nightfall.

"Tch," he shook his head. He'd just have to hurry.

He went to the newspaper room and hurriedly scanned through article after article, passing over titles referring to marriages, political scandals, town events, and other such gossip. His eyes were growing tired and he'd only gotten through a year's worth of newspapers. Finally, he spied the word "Silvermann" in a short article towards the bottom.

"_Silvermann__ Campgrounds__ reopens __after __mysterious __disappearances. __One __month __prior, __the __camping __site __was __closed __as __police __searched__ the __forest __for __a __backpacker__ who __went __missing __on __the __29__th __of __May. __Authorities __were __unfortunately __never __able __to __discover __what __happened __to __backpacker __Alec __Martin __after __he __got __separated__ from __his __friends __while __hiking __through__ the __forest __close__ to the __Silvermann __Ghost __Town.__ If __anyone __has __any __information __to __the __missing __person__'__s__ whereabouts,__ they__ are __asked __to __contact__…"_

Enzan didn't bother reading the details, but searched for earlier articles on the same subject. One in particular caught his eye.

"_Another__ disappearance __at __Silvermann__ Campgrounds. __The __popular __camping __site __seems __to __have __taken __another__ victim __as __backpacker __Alec __Martin __has__ been __missing__ for__ four __days __now,__ after __being__ separated __from__ his __hiking __group __near __Victoria __Falls. __Just __three __years__ prior, __a __young __girl __wandered__ away__ from__ her __family __during __the __night __and__ her __body __was__ never __recovered. __Authorities __are __continuing __efforts __to __find __the__ missing __backpacker, __who __vanished __late __into __the __evening__ this__ past__ Saturday. __If __anyone __has__ information,__ please __contact __the__ local__ authorities.__"_

Now more excited, he began searching through even older articles from four years ago. He scanned through them quickly, but was careful to scan every title. Finally, he found what he was looking for.

"_Young girl goes missing at Silvermann Campgrounds. This is not the first time for someone to become lost at Silvermann, but it is the first time someone has disappeared from a campsite in the middle of the night, leading authorities to believe that this may be a kidnapping. The young girl, Erika Matsumoto, age 10, was sleeping in the same tent as her parents, but when they awoke in the morning, the girl was missing. The distraught couple immediately contacted local authorities and the search is still in progress."_

Enzan pulled back, realizing he had leaned in quite close and was hunched over the article. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying to make sense of what he had just discovered. There was obviously something strange going on in those mountains, for there to be this many unsolved missing persons cases. But if this had happened before, why weren't the police more willing to help him? And what's more, the article had implied that these weren't the only instances.

He really wanted to read more, but he had to leave soon. He got up and looked around. A lot of the lights had been turned off and there was hardly any light outside. The books that he had left on the table were gone. He walked towards where the front desk was. "Hello?" he called out.

There was no reply.

He had wanted to thank the librarian for her help before he left, but she must have been busy with something else. He shrugged and headed for the doors, reluctant to leave without saying anything, but he had to get back. It was already too late as it was.

As he walked to the door, he pulled out his PET to see if Netto had replied with any news of Dekao. "Message Failed to Send" was what filled his screen.

"Blues! What happened?"

"I'm sorry, Enzan. I couldn't get the connection to go through."

"And you didn't inform me?"

"You were very absorbed in what you were working on, sir."

Enzan cursed and and grabbed the door handle to pull it open, but when he pulled back, it didn't budge. "What the hell?" He tried again, first pulling and then pushing, in case he was mistaken. The door didn't move.

Enzan turned around, his eyes scanning the rows of dark shelves. The librarian was no where to be seen. He headed to the back of the building, searching for an office where she might still be doing some paperwork or something. He found a door, but he didn't know if it led to an office and it was locked too.

He wandered back to the front of the library. "Hello?" he called out. "Can anyone hear me? I'm locked in!"

He waited a moment, but there was no reply. He was alone in the library. He was locked in.

* * *

><p>Night fell and Enzan had still not returned. The group sat around the fire, eating their dinner quietly.<p>

"Do you think something happened?" asked Yaito worriedly.

"Enzan promised to be back here before night. He wouldn't go back on his word," Netto spoke.

"But Netto, it's already night time."

"Maybe it's something stupid. Maybe he had car trouble."

"But what about the police? They have cars, why aren't they coming?"

"Maybe he never made it to town."

"Don't say that!" said Meiru. She wrapped her arms around herself.

"You guys, we're getting nowhere discussing this!" exclaimed Netto. He wouldn't deny that he was nervous. Afterall, they had no way of contacting anyone, no way to leave if something happened, and two friends were unaccounted for. But he had to stay strong. For his friends. "For now, let's just get some sleep. We can all move into the big tent for now, and then in the morning we'll figure out what to do if Enzan still isn't back."

The others all nodded in agreement and they moved the girls' duffels and sleeping bags into the big tent and they climbed into their bags. None of them really felt up to conversation, but none of them really felt up to conversation either. Slowly, one by one, they settled into comfortable positions and drifted to sleep. Tohru was the last to finally let his eyes fall shut. When one was tired, there was little you could do to prevent sleep.

Nonetheless, they were all awakened in the middle of the night by a noise. They were disoriented and none of them were quite sure what it was. Netto sat up and put a finger to his lips, glaring into the darkness and hoping that the others would be able to see him and get the message. Then he stopped to listen.

It sounded like footsteps. Almost. _Crunch, __slide, __crackle. __Crunch,__ slide, __snap._

Whoever or whatever it was seemed to be dragging something across the forest floor.

_Crunch, slide, crunch, crackle._

They all froze, not daring to move. It occurred to more than one of them that it might be Dekao, or maybe Enzan. But, then wouldn't they say something?

Then, from somewhere in the distance, there were noises. Like giggling, laughter. Children giggling. Meiru made a choked gasping noise, but pulled her hand up quickly to muffle the sound.

It was like that for a long time, not a single one of them daring to make a movie and outside their tent, quiet noises and strange whispers. Then it seemed to move on, the noises and footsteps fading into the distance. But still, none of them moved even after it was long gone. Every rustle of the leaves outside could have been the thing returning, every sound was a mystery.

It took even longer than last time, but miraculously, they all were asleep again when the sun just started to rise. They would need all the rest they could get.


	7. Chapter 7

This story is ending up quite a bit longer than the original, yes? It's going to be at least one chapter longer, and every chapter is a good bit longer than their original versions. I'm pleased. I hope the rest of you are enjoying reading the story as much as I enjoy writing it.

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><p>When they finally awoke again, it was late in the morning, but one would never be able to tell due to the heavy fog that had returned, obscuring any sunlight from reaching them. Netto unzipped the tent flap to look outside.<p>

"Netto! Wait!" Tohru called after him. He pulled him back. "You have to be careful. Remember last night?"

"So that wasn't a dream?" Yaito whispered almost to herself.

"It's daytime now, don't worry. Whatever that was… I mean, it could have been Enzan, for all we know! Maybe he got back late and didn't want to wake us. Or maybe Dekao!"

"But what about the voices?"

"We can't be sure we heard voices. It was late and it could have just been something that sounded like voices."

"Netto…"

He had to admit, it didn't sound very convincing. But he was determined to do his best to keep his friends calm, even if he was on the verge of panicking himself. "Well, either way, we can't just stay here in the tent. We've got to go out there." It was something to do, anyway. He pulled his shoes on and stepped outside.

The weather had not improved in the slightest; if anything, it seemed worse. The brown-haired boy hadn't bothered to pull his headband on and he pushed his over-grown bangs out of his eyes, looking around in hopes of spotting some explanation for what they heard last night.

"Hello?" he called out. "Enzan? Dekao?" He hoped desperately that either one or both of his friends had returned during the night and had perhaps slipped into the other tent that they'd left up after realizing that the four of them were all squeezed into one tent. That had to be it. He strode over to the smaller tent and unzipped the flap. "Enzan!"

It was empty.

Netto looked around and over his shoulder, as if there was something obvious he had just overlooked. He could see Enzan teasing him now, "God Hikari, I can't believe you didn't notice. You're even more oblivious than I thought!"

Slightly indignant in response to the remark he'd imagined his friend saying to himself, he returned to peek his head into the larger tent again. "You guys, I'm gonna head down and see if Enzan came back last night. He might have come back so late that he didn't want to wake us up and slept in the van."

"Not by yourself!" Meiru protested. "At least have one of us come with you. I'll come with you!"

Netto glanced over at Yaito and Tohru, who nodded. So he agreed reluctantly and she hurried to pull on her shoes and climb out of the tent after him. Then they headed down the trail.

Tohru watched them go before turning back to Yaito. She was rummaging around in her bag looking for something. "Yaito, I'm going to try to get a fire started. It's so unseasonably chilly, I think a little hot cocoa or something will make all of us feel better. Yeah?"

She managed a small smile in response.

"I'll be right outside, if you need me."

She nodded. "Okay," was her whispered response.

Tohru took his time going through their supplies, pulling out everything he would need to make a fire and boil some water. The fire didn't start right away, either. The ground and twigs were too damp. He was stooped next to the logs, getting more and more frustrated by the minute until finally, after much muttered cursing and wasted matches, the small flame caught and smoke began to rise steadily, curling through the air.

"Hey Yaito, I got the fire started!" he called. "Why don't you come out and join me."

He waited a moment, to hear her response, but none came.

"Yaito?" he repeated, more insistently, demanding some response. He strained his ears for some quiet response. There was nothing.

He strode back over to the tent and flung the flap back.

"Yaito?" he whispered. But she was not there. Her sleeping bag was laid out neat and straight just like Dekao's had been. Tohru jerked back and spun around in a panic. "Yaito!" he called. He ran pointlessly around their campsite, past their food and the log they used as a bench and the smoking firepit. His eyes searched around frantically, trying to penetrate the thick fog. "_Yaito!"_

"Tohru!" he heard an answering scream. It didn't relieve him though, as his girlfriend's voice was filled with such terror that he didn't want to imagine what caused it.

"Yaito! Where are you?" Tohru was dashing in the direction he thought her voice had come from.

But this time when he called, there was no response.

"Yaito, answer me!" he shouted. He was no longer sure of where her voice had come from and was searching the shadows of the forest, trying to get a glimpse of her blond locks, but to no avail.

He was so focused on looking for a sign of life in the trees, that he didn't notice there was someone else there until he was grabbed from behind. He spun to face whoever it was.

It was Netto, who took a step back at his frightened appearance. "Whoa! Tohru, calm down. What's happened?"

"Calm down? No way in hell am I going to calm down! Yaito is missing! _Missing! _Just like Dekao and I heard her scream, she called out for me! But now she won't answer and I _don__'__t __know __where__ she __is!__" _ He wrenched his arm from Netto's and started forging his way into the forest.

"What? Tohru, stop! We need to stick together," Netto insisted. "There's no point in rushing off without thinking things through."

Meiru stood a bit behind her chocolate haired crush, wrapped in a sweater and biting her lip. Her eyes were wide as she realized Yaito was now also missing.

"I don't need to do any damn thing! Yaito is out there somewhere, possibly hurt or worse, while we sit here pointlessly discussing it!"

"Enzan should be back soon. He promised," Netto was pleading now, trying to do anything to get his usually quiet friend to calm down. "He'll come with police and we can search through the entire forest."

The thought of police seemed to help him slightly. He stopped yelling and just stared into the fog for a second, breathing heavily from all his yelling. "Shit," he cussed uncharacteristically. "Yaito!" he yelled once more. There was still no more response.

Netto swallowed. It was unnerving, seeing his friend so worked up. Tohru was usually very quiet and soft spoken. But if Yaito was missing and something really had happened… The brown-haired boy didn't want to think about it.

Meiru spoke up then. "We should go check to see if the forest officials are back. We need help."

"But I can't just leave!" argued Tohru. His eyes had not strayed from the trees, trying to penetrate the shadows with his gaze. "I heard her, just moments ago! Something happened!"

"Then let's search the forest together," Netto decided resolutely. He looked back at Meiru for approval, who nodded, and then continued talking to Tohru. "We stay together and stay in sight of the tent. But she can't have gone far, right? If you were able to hear her just now?"

So the three of them started picking their way through the foliage. With all the tangles of branches and thick leaves, and the fog making even the open areas hard to see, it was almost impossible. They didn't get too far before they were at risk of becoming lost themselves and Meiru suggested they turn back and find a forest official or wait for Enzan. There was little else that they could do.

When they got back to the campsite, the fire Tohru had started was still flickering tentatively, a small flame burning under the logs. They sat around it, not saying much as they all thought about how their camping trip had taken such a turn for the worse. Netto pulled out his PET again, but there was still nothing. Somehow, he wasn't surprised.

"Hey Netto." Surprisingly, it was Tohru who finally broke the silence. "Last night, you know? All of us heard that, whatever it was. There's something strange going on here."

Meiru shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself. "I'd rather not remember. I was so scared."

"But if it really was there, shouldn't there be some traces of something around here? Some sign that there was something here?" He strode towards the tent.

"That's what we thought when Dekao went missing, but we didn't find anything then," argued Meiru.

"But what if there is something this time?" Tohru faced them boldly.

Netto nodded, reluctantly. "Something is going on here, we can't deny that and we can't pretend it's nothing. With two people missing and possibly still alive, I agree that we need to do everything we can. We should take a look around."

While Netto began circling the tent with his eyes focused on the ground, Tohru came forward to look inside the tent itself, in case there was something he'd missed in his frenzy earlier.

Netto stepped carefully, lightly, over the ground. His chocolate brown eyes searched the dirt for any sign of a clue that could at least point him in a direction. It wasn't until he'd reached the edge of the clearing, close to where they'd been looking for Yaito in fact, where the open ground started to become more underbrush and foliage that he saw something.

He leaned down, crouching over the spot on the ground. They probably hadn't noticed it before because they were looking for Yaito specifically, not signs of anything else. But this was certainly something. The dirt and leaves that had fallen from the trees were disturbed. Or maybe disturbed wasn't quite the right word. They were crushed and decayed in ways the other plants were not. Then he picked up a pinch of it and it crumbled to powder in his hand. No, not decayed. Burned. There were a few spots like that, scattered in that small area near their clearing. But no where else.

Netto stood. Meiru hadn't moved, her gaze unfocused and staring off into the fog, and Tohru was still in the tent. The brown haired boy approached the small structure.

"Tohru, did you find anything?"

No answer.

"Tohru?" He pulled back the tent flap.

The younger boy was seated upon Yaito's bedroll, staring at something in his hands.

"Hey, what—"

"Her hairclip," was all he said at first. Netto paused a moment and Tohru turned his head toward him, smiling lightly. However, the events of the day were finally taking their toll and a silent stream of tears rolling down his cheeks betrayed his emotions. In his hand was a small clip that Netto recalled seeing in Yaito's hair just the day before.

The brown haired boy didn't know what to say at first. He wasn't sure what he should do. So he stepped back to give the other a moment alone. God knows he needed it.

Meiru was standing right behind him. "How is he?" she whispered.

Netto only smiled sadly before going over to their small pile of supplies and started packing them up. "We should start carrying stuff down. We shouldn't stay here any longer than necessary. Once Enzan gets back, we can leave and get an official search party up here."

When everything was put together, Netto peeked into the tent once more where Tohru had yet to move.

"Tohru," he whispered. "We're bringing stuff down to the parking lot. We'll come back for the tent later, but you should come with us."

The younger boy nodded but still didn't move at first. When he finally did, it was slowly and precisely.

They took their time hiking down to the parking lot for the second time that day, but when they were in sight, Meiru spotted a familiar van. "Enzan!" she cried jubilantly.

The group ran down, plastic silverware and dishes, plus the cans and bags of food, clattered noisily as they hurried to greet the other. The white haired boy was just stepping out of the van and he slammed the door behind him angrily. He was immediately barraged by questions such as, "What happened?", "What took so long?", and "When are they coming to help?"

He scowled. "I wish I had good news, I really do. But the police aren't going to be sending out a search party any time soon. And that isn't even the worst of it."

Netto glanced nervously at Tohru who had suddenly become very still, his gaze distant.

Enzan didn't miss it. He also didn't notice the absence of a certain blond girl. His eyes narrowed. "Did something happen? Where's Yaito?"

Netto was about to answer when someone else replied for him. "She's gone." There was a little laugh, not quite humorous, not quite sane, most probably sarcastic. Tohru spun on his heel and started walking in no particular direction muttering those two words to himself all the while.

Meiru came up behind him and touched his shoulder, speaking soft, comforting words. Netto was about to go do the same when a harsh grip took hold of his arm and spun him around. He was forced to look at piercing blue eyes.

"They'll be fine for a minute. Tell me everything that happened."

And so, Netto told him everything he could remember with as much detail as possible, trying to leave nothing out. The strange noises they heard the night before, Yaito's disappearance, and finally the strange marks on the ground. Enzan didn't interrupt him and Netto was unnerved by his friend's stoicness.

By this time, Meiru had gently led Tohru back over to the van. "We should finish packing our stuff and get out of here before nightfall," she whispered.

"No!" shouted Tohru rather forcefully, jerking away from her. "We can't leave! We have to find Yaito!"

"Tohru—"

"_I__ said__ no_! I am not leaving without her!" The boy turned abrubtly and picked up the stuff he'd been carrying down to the parking lot, fully intending on returning to camp.

"What?" Meiru practically screeched. "Are you crazy? There is something wrong going on here and what happened to them could happen to any of us! I'm sure if we just go back to town, explain what's going on, then—"

"No." This time the boy did not even turn and look at her when he replied. He just kept walking.

The three of them stared after for a long moment, letting the silence hang between them.

Then, "We can't let him stay here by himself." Enzan hefted up the box Meiru had been carrying and followed the other boy into the fog.

Netto and Meiru found they had no choice but to reluctantly return to their camp.


	8. Chapter 8

So, this is where the story starts picking up a bit. I really want it to be scary. I'm going to try my best to make this a proper horror story, so be warned. Another something you should be warned about: there will be language! If anyone thinks that I need to change the rating, please tell me and I will do so. However, I am going to give you all a choice here: I can end the story similarly to how the original ended (tragically) OR I can come up with a different (happier?) ending. You can give me your thoughts in a review! :D

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><p><em>Nails are scratching horrific red lines into the skin of her own arms, frantically trying to ease the pain, the burning itch that was spreading throughout her body too fast, so fast it was everywhere, all at once. She ran blindly, but she might not even have been aware of running. All she knew was she had to get away from him, that twisted, horrible face that was imprinted into the back of her eyelids even now. And the pain, the invisible fire that was catching and spreading and she wanted to scream, to cry, but nothing came out. She isn't sure when it happened, but she isn't running anymore, and she's lying on the ground somewhere, and it's dark and she's still desperately trying to ease the burning sensation running through her. She tosses and lurches, her nails pressing so hard that she draws blood. She draws in one more horrified gasp, but her lungs fill with smoke and she can't breathe. She falls into black.<em>

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><p>"Netto, come here for a second."<p>

The teenager looked up from where he was half-heartedly fiddling with his PET. He'd been trying to get it to work for the past few minutes, with no luck. For whatever reason, when they were on the mountain, the PETs refused to function. Reluctantly putting it down, he got up and walked over to where Enzan was sitting by himself and folded his legs to sit cross-legged beside him.

"I didn't just go to the police yesterday," he confessed. His blue eyes looked around at anything but Netto, before he seemed to make a decision about something. "I went to the library, to find out more about Silvermann and the campgrounds. The reason that I didn't come back yesterday is because the librarian somehow didn't realize I was still there and locked me in for the night." He paused and looked like he wanted to say more on that subject, but instead he said, "But while I was at the library, I found out some interesting things."

Netto looked behind him to make sure Tohru and Meiru were still in the tent, before encouraging Enzan to continue. "Yeah? Like what?"

"I think there's something going on up here that no one is willing to talk about," he whispered. "There have been other cases of people going missing over the years. A year ago a backpacker went missing. Four years ago, a young girl went missing in the middle of the night. Nine years ago, there was a college student who went to spend the night at the ghost town on a dare. They never found him either. The campgrounds have only been open for fourteen years, and to have so many incidents… I can't believe the forest hasn't been closed to the public already."

"What do you think it means?" he asked with wide eyes.

Enzan shrugged. "I have no idea. But it can't be anything good."

"We should tell Tohru and Meiru." He didn't look too happy at the idea, though.

"By all means, be my guest," said Enzan sarcastically. "Terrify Meiru even more and give Tohru that one last reason to totally go batshit crazy."

"They deserve to know!" argued Netto.

"Maybe they do," he agreed. "But now might not be the best time."

They stopped arguing when they spotted the door to the tent being unzipped from the inside and Tohru stepped out. Meiru peered out after him. He strode towards where they were sitting and for a moment, Enzan was afraid they were not as quiet as he'd thought and Tohru already heard everything he didn't want him to hear. As it turns out, he was wrong, but that didn't make him feel any better about the words that came out of Tohru's mouth.

"I want to look for her."

The three others were unsurprised, but upset nonetheless. Tohru was distraught, his face seemingly calm but his eyes filled with a frantic wildness. His hands balled into tight fists, and his fingers were almost disappearing in the sleeves of his large sweatshirt.

Meiru clambered out of the tent and tried once again to convince him to depart from the dark, clouded forest they had had the misfortune of camping in. "Tohru, we really should lea—"

"Leave? And just pretend nothing happened, that our friends haven't mysteriously disappeared?" As he said it, his focus switched from the pink haired girl to Netto, who stood up from where he was sitting by Enzan. "The police aren't going to help, the forest rangers can't be found, our damn PETs aren't even working!" he shouted. "If anyone is going to help Yaito and Dekao, it's going to have to be us!"

Netto sighed in defeat, knowing that Enzan was right about not telling the others about the other missing people, and he felt a warm hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Enzan's calm blue eyes. His expression was one of reassurance. Or, rather it seemed to be. Netto could never be sure, but he'd been friends with the other for years and he took it upon himself to interpret the look however he wished. And he needed to get all the reassurance he could right now. He would let Enzan step in for him for the time being.

"You're right, Tohru. We need to look for them." Enzan's calm voice made the terrifying prospect of searching the forest seem a much simpler task. Tohru relaxed slightly. "It will be dark in a few hours, so we better start soon, and be back here at camp before nightfall. But we have to stick together as a group. No one goes anywhere alone." He fixed Tohru with a stern glare, to which the younger boy replied with one of his own. But he backed down eventually with half-hearted consent.

Netto laughed nervously, wishing he could laugh sincerely somewhere safe and far, far away. "Where should we start looking?"

Enzan looked into the trees. "Show me that stuff you said you found earlier." Letting Netto lead the way, the group headed to the edge of the clearing.

"Here," said Netto. He pointed to the spot on the ground where the forest floor was blackened. Enzan bent down to look closer and Meiru hovered close behind Netto. Tohru was glancing around them, searching the woods with his eyes and shifting from foot to foot, seemingly unable to keep still, before looking down at it himself. Enzan poked it cautiously before pinching a bit and rubbing it between his fingers. It crumbled into a powder that smeared over his hands. Like charred wood. It backed up Netto's first observation that it seemed like the woods had been burnt in these spots.

Enzan hesitantly brought his fingers to his nose and took s cautious sniff. "Smells like sulfur," he murmured.

"What do you think caused this?" asked Netto.

The older boy shook his head. "I have no idea. It's like you said—like someone built little fires in the forest or something. But these are recent and either way, I have no idea how someone would be able to make a fire here without us noticing or burning down the forest around it. It's weird."

"Well, that's obvious," he muttered.

"Let's go into the forest for a bit," suggested Enzan. "We'll bring a compass, and not go too deep. Let's just see if we can find any more clues. I don't think we really have time fore much else." He looked at Tohru, as if daring the younger boy to argue with him, but he didn't.

It seemed normal enough at first, lots of trees, underbrush, twigs that scraped at their faces and snagged their clothes, piles of leaves hiding the homes of small animals that one could accidentally step in. But then they went deeper and the foliage became thicker, blocking out the sun and making it hard to view the areas that lay just a few feet ahead.

Tohru marched ahead of them slightly, setting the pace. Still, he walked slowly, wanting to be sure of their surroundings, yet steadily to cover as much ground as they could. He seemed sure of where he was going, but he did have the compass afterall. All of them kept sharp look out, jumping at the slightest sound that seemed out of place, the smallest crunch of leaves.

After a while, Tohru stopped suddenly, causing Meiru and Netto, who were behind him, to bump into him and stumble forward.

"Did you hear that?" he whispered.

"Hear what?" demanded Meiru. She looked to Netto and Enzan, but they seemed just as confused as she was.

Tohru didn't answer, but was looking around.

"Tohru, hear what?"

"Shh!" he shushed them.

A crackling of twigs somewhere to the left of them had them all whipping around to try to face whatever it was. They all heard it that time.

"Hello!" Netto called out. "Yaito? Dekao?"

"Netto, be quiet!"

There was another noise, like a footstep, and the sound of crunching leaves was like an explosion in the quiet forest. No one moved. They all held perfectly still, waiting. Waiting for what, though, they couldn't be sure. Everything seemed to be frozen, not even a breeze to rustle the leaves in the trees. Was it their fear that caused everything to move in slow motion? Was it their adrenaline that made them hyper aware of every little sound, every little movement?

Netto could barely breathe, holding his breath in anticipation. The sound of his own heartbeat filled his ears and finally, he couldn't take it anymore. Breaking the stillness, he forced his legs to move a few steps forward and call into the shadows of the forest, "Hello! Is anyone there? Can anyone hear me? If you're there, answer me!"

The echo of his shouts faded and he was quiet again to wait for some response. But none came. A slight breeze stirred the leaves and a bird flew past them overhead.

Netto's shoulders slumped, releasing the tension. When he turned back around to his friends, he could see that the moment had passed for them as well.

"Let's go back," Meiru pleaded quietly. She looked around at the trees and then tore her gaze away to look at her friends. "It's going to get dark soon, let's go back." When no one said anything, Meiru grabbed onto the sleeves of both Enzan and Netto, her breath shuddering. "Let's go back. Please, let's go back, I'm scared," she begged.

Netto sighed and nodded at her and enveloped her in a hug, wrapping his arms around her in comfort, then looked over her shoulder to Enzan who had turned on a flashlight and started tramping off through the foliage, following the few footprints they'd left. The brown haired boy would trust that he would be able to get them back to their campsite. The walk back took longer than expected, though the dark atmosphere and the desire to get out probably made it seem longer than it was. When Enzan pressed the small light on his digital watch, it revealed that it was not even six o'clock. They came back out at the site of their tent. There was seemingly no change in the supplies, no sign that anything at all was out of the ordinary. If it weren't for all the strange things that had happened, it could have just been a normal day, and they could have been roasting marshmallows around the campfire and telling stories and laughing. If only.

Netto's arm was still securely around Meiru's shoulders in a comforting hold. She started walking more quickly, heading for the trail that lead down to the parking lot. "Let's not stay here, let's just go straight back into town, yeah? With two people missing, we should try asking the police again. They can't ignore us anymore."

Netto looked to Enzan pleadingly and Enzan, silently disagreeing with that statement in his mind, followed silently behind. His eyes swept the trees, keeping watch for any unseen thing that might be lurking in the shadows. He didn't bother to look back to see if Tohru was following them. But he should have. Two people were already gone. What was to keep another from going missing?

By the time they arrived at the parking lot, they were all tired and exhausted from the hiking and their emotions and wanted nothing more than to leave and get out of that horrible place. But they found that that would be more of a problem than they thought.

The van was gone.

"What… Where…?" Meiru asked, slightly in shock.

Enzan swore and the lengths of his strides lengthened to carry him to the spot where the vehicle had been previously. "It was right here. I know it was. I parked it right here." He bent down, fingers tracing over the oil spot the vehicle had left behind.

The realization of just how messed up the entire situation was suddenly caught up to him and he stood, kicking at some non-existant cause for all their problems. It would seem that the Ijuuin boy had finally lost his composure. "_Fuck!_ What the hell, it was right here! I parked it right here, I know I did! This is impossible!" He walked back and forth angrily, running his hands up through his hair and throwing them up in frustration. "Someone is fucking with us, they are goddamn _fucking_ with us!_" _He cursed and raged, then finally screamed in exasperation, grabbing the useless keys from his pocket and heaving them as far as he could into the trees.

He was breathing hard, Netto, Meiru, and Tohru watching him silently.

"Come on," Enzan said quietly, calmly. "Let's go back to our tent. We'll figure something out. We'll get out of here somehow, don't worry." He said it to all of them but was speaking mainly to Netto. Or maybe it was himself he was trying to reassure. He really didn't know.

Netto looked around at his friends. Tears spilled out the corners of Meiru's eyes and she bit down on her lip. Tohru turned quietly and walked back without a word. He looked at all of them sadly, despairingly. Enzan's fists were clenched, and trembling, though whether it was out of anger or fear, he couldn't tell. Dekao was gone. Yaito was missing.

He didn't know how they would make it through another night in that place.


	9. Chapter 9

I swear to whatever powers that be, while I was writing this chapter, I kept seeing something in my mirror in my peripheral vision, and it kept freaking me out. XD That aside, if anyone still wants to give input, I'm still taking suggestions for how the ending should go. Well then, enjoy!

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><p>"<em>You locked me in overnight." Enzan stated as calmly as he could that morning, despite his anger. He had fallen asleep slumped over volumes of local history books, and been startled awake at the sound of keys at the door.<em>

"_And I'm sorry about that, really." The old librarian didn't look a bit contrite about her actions. "But I couldn't let you go. I knew you would head straight for the old ghost town and no one should be going up there. Especially at night."_

_He froze at her words. "What? What do you mean?" he whispered._

"_That place is evil. You mustn't go there..."_

Enzan's eyes shot open. He'd fallen asleep without even realizing it. It took him a moment to realize that what had woken him were the faint whispers at his back and he resisted the urge to roll over. They didn't know he was awake.

"Netto?" whispered a quiet voice. "I don't think I'll be able to sleep."

"Just try, Meiru"

"I can't."

The four of them had returned to their tent, having no other options. Netto and Meiru lay side by side in the middle, with Tohru and Enzan nearest to the tent walls. Netto and Meiru were awake, and he would bet that Tohru wasn't exactly drifiting peacefully into dreamland either. Frankly, he was shocked that he'd been able to get a few moments of sleep himself, even if it wasn't exactly restful. They could do nothing but stare into the darkness and listen with dread to the quiet night sounds of the forest. Every snapping twig, every hooting owl put them on edge.

"Me neither," Enzan heard Netto admit to her.

All of them lay still and quiet, having nothing more to say. The silence seemed fragile; as if too much noise could ruin it and erupt into the panic they were dreading.

Outside the tent, an owl hooted and his muscles tensed. He couldn't remember ever having been so on edge, and he'd certainly never felt so helpless. The blue-eyed boy allowed himself a quiet sigh. He briefly contemplated getting up and making a fire, keeping watch on them all. It would give him something to do, anyway. But he resisted the urge.

The night passed quietly, uneventfully.

When morning came, they barely noticed. It was only when Enzan jolted awake to the tiny beeping of the alarm on his watch that he realized it was morning. And that he'd fallen asleep again. Suddenly alert, the teenager sat up and looked around the tent to check on his three companions. All of them were there, and all of them seemed to have finally succumbed to sleep. He smiled softly in relief and got up to get himself some breakfast. And caffeine.

The others were awake not long after and the Ijuuin boy, seeing their weary faces, gave a reassuring smile. Or something close to it. Smiles were never really his forte. Netto, at least, seemed to appreciate the gesture anyway. He smiled back, though it was tired and lacking its usual brightness.

Two people were gone. And possibly injured or dead, though it didn't do to dwell on thoughts like those.

Enzan stood, deciding something needed to be done. "Let's go back to the ghost town. If we're going to get any answers, I bet we'll find them there."

Tohru had dark circles under his eyes, but he wasn't as frantic as before. He was resigned, almost, but the desire to find his friend and girlfriend was still strong. Meiru zipped up her sweatshirt and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. None of them had had a shower in the past few days and the few strands that lingered around her face were limp and stringy. Likewise, Netto's face was smudged with dirt. But they were determined, and it took very little to convince them.

"Let's go."

The hike was long. It seemed much longer than they remembered. When they made it to the run-down old town, and the fog there was so thick, they could barely make out the shapes of the buildings. It was a haze of impenetrable white, in which shadows seemed even darker, and the sharp silhouettes of burnt homes and stores looked like sleeping monsters that should never be touched or disturbed by human visitors. It was then that Netto noticed a white powder dusting the sleeves of Enzan's shirt, and, upon closer inspection, his own and Tohru's and Meiru's as well.

"What is this…?"

Enzan noticed what Netto was looking at and he ran a hand over his own arm. The powder smeared and he rubbed it between his fingers. "It's ash," he muttered, puzzled.

"Is there a fire?" Netto exclaimed, alarmed. His eyes widened as he looked up. "We'd never even notice with all this fog!"

"Yaito?"

All of them turned to stare at Tohru, who had suddenly stood up ram-rod straight, paying close attention to something.

"Yaito! I hear you, where are you?" He was looking wildly around now, his eyes probing the mist.

"Tohru, what are you talking about? Do you hear something?" asked Meiru.

"You can't hear her?" he turned on them. "She's calling for me, can't you hear?"

"Tohru, we don't hear any—"

"We have to hurry!" Tohru broke into a run, yelling "She needs help! She needs me! I have to find Yaito, no matter what!"

Without hesitation, Netto dashed after him. "Tohru, wait! Come back!"

Enzan grabbed for Netto's arm, but missed as his friend hurried off into the fog. He looked at Meiru, who was staring after the brown-haired boy with a frightened expression. He had to make a choice, if he let Netto and Tohru run off on their own into the fog, he'd have more than just two missing people to look for in this fog. This was no time to become separated. He grabbed Meiru's hand exasperatedly, and pulled her along as he followed the other two wherever they were headed.

Tohru was dashing into one of the buildings—the very same one that they had foolishly snuck into only a few days prior. He had pushed the door open with more force than could be considered safe, creating a cloud of dust and sending a shower of decayed wood down on himself as he disappeared into the darkness of the building. Netto followed soon after and Enzan and Meiru slowed down enough to hesitate at the doorway before cautiously stepping inside themselves.

It was totally dark. The pale light from outside made hardly any difference, and as Enzan squinted in an attempt to let his eyes adjust, he listened for the sound of them; the in and out of their haggard, frightened breathing, and the ominous creaking every little shift of weight caused the floorboards to make.

"Yaito?" Tohru called into the darkness. His voice was softer now.

"Tohru, there's nothing here," Netto tried to convince him.

"Both of you, let's get back outside where we can actually _see_each other, and discuss this calmly," suggested Enzan, trying to keep his voice steady.

"No, she's… Yaito!"

Even though they could barely see a foot in front of them, they all heard the heavy footsteps as Tohru suddenly dashed forward again and ran up the stairs, the sound reverberating throughout the house.

"Yaito!" he screamed. "_Yaito!__"_

"Tohru!" Netto called frantically. He was trying to maneuver his way in the dark, trying to find whatever path Tohru had taken to get him to the stairs.

"Netto, stop!" Enzan cried out, just as Meiru screeched, "Tohru, come back!"

"Yaito!" All of them heard the shuffling and the banging above them, and then to their horror, the sound of something heavy falling and crashing to the first floor of the building.

Meiru screamed and then they all rushed to find their way to the part of the house they'd heard the noise come from. Enzan felt along the wall until his fingers closed around what felt like a doorknob and he gave an insistent push, twisting and pulling, but to no avail. In frustration, he backed up, mindful of Netto and Meiru, who were hovering behind him, and then kicked the door in. It gave, jolting open and moving back on its hinges to reveal another room, one with enough windows to dimly illuminate it.

"This can't be happening," Enzan whispered.

Meiru began crying, unable to pry her eyes from the terrible sight. Large fat tears began to roll silently down her cheek and then she gave a quiet gasp and a hiccup until she burst into full-blown sobs. She sank to her knees, sobbing and crying. "No…! No, it can't be! Tohru!" She turned suddenly and buried her face in Enzan's pant leg, the teenager having been the one closest to her. He stiffened at the suddden physical contact before slowly bending down to wrap and arm awkwardly around the girl. But his eyes never left Tohru's body, lying unnaturally in the middle of the room. Above them was the hole in the ceiling they had seen the first time they ventured inside. Tohru had obviously fallen and by the jagged piece of wood jutting from his chest, there was no doubt that he was dead. A small puddle of dark liquid pooled around him and his eyes stared up, unseeing in an expression of shock and horror. His head was lolled to the side, facing them, his mouth open in a little 'o' of surprise. He looked nothing like the Tohru they knew, but when Enzan thought about it, he didn't have much right to say that himself.

Enzan chanced a glance over at Netto. He was leaning heavily against the doorframe, heaving and gagging, until finally the contents of his stomach emptied and splattered on the dusty floor of the old building. He coughed and Enzan saw that his face, too, had a small trail of tears rolling down his cheeks.

It was all too much, too quickly. Enzan decided that the best thing right then was to get them out of there. He gently pulled the pink-haired girl along with him, herding Netto out as he did so.

"Enzan?" Once they were outside, Netto managed to look somewhat more composed now and his face clean of any puke or tears. Meiru's tears had not stopped, however.

The white haired boy didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to do. For once, he was absolutely terrified. "Are you okay now?" he finally managed to whisper.

Netto nodded. He paused, then shook his head.

"Should we even bother to keep searching?"

"No!" Meiru shrieked, suddenly jerking away from him. "I don't want to stay here, please, I want to leave, I don't want to stay here any longer…" She trailed off into sobs once more and collapsed on the ground.

They had all been watching Meiru silently, waiting for her to calm herself when voices began to be heard. They were distant, echoing, seemingly all around them. The three teenagers turned around, searching the shadows frantically with wide eyes. It was laughter, soft and teasing, exactly like what the group had heard the night before Yaito disappeared.

Enzan hated feeling so helpless, and so he pushed the feeling down to replace it with fury. "Where are you, you bastards! Get out here! Show yourselves! Who are you, and what do you want with us?" He strode forward, confrontationally, in one direction, before stopping and striding in the other. Nothing appeared, nothing made itself known. There was only the soft laughter, seeming to mock them. Enzan picked up a rock from the ground and threw it as hard as he could in a random direction. "_Where__ the __fuck __are __you?"_

The giggles never ceased, but now another sound was added to the eerie symphony. A scream. It was so shrill, so heart wrenchingly painful, it was almost more animal than human.

"Why is this happening?" Netto asked to no one in particular, his voice trembling.

Enzan did the only thing he could think for them to do: he pulled Meiru off the ground, grabbed Netto's hand, and ran.

"No, Enzan wait! We can't leave Tohru there! We have to go back for him!"

Enzan didn't even pause to look back at his friend.

"Enzan, stop! Listen to me!"

But the voices surrounding them were drifting off, and it gave Enzan the lift of confidence he needed to ignore Netto's protests and haul him and Meiru down the trail, heading back to camp.


	10. Chapter 10

Here it is. The last chapter, 4 years after the last chapter of "Shadows in the Forest" was posted, to the day. I'd like to thank those who reviewed: Ellenar Ride, 7th Scale, Nicor Warg-Fyrweorm, Chindu Prince of Darkness, Scarlet Wolf, Symphonic Sweet, DoomNightAt12, and Sora Nadeshiko. I got much more encouragement for this story than I expected, and I really enjoyed going back and revisiting it, trying to make it even better and scarier than the first version. It's been fun.

Happy Halloween.

* * *

><p>When they got back to camp, Enzan took charge, and Netto and Meiru were happy to let him do so, even though he was moments away from hysterics. Enzan pulled the two of them into the tent with him and told them to start packing only what they could carry. They were rushing around the tent, bumping into each other and frantically pushing clothes into their bags and similarly stuffing their sleeping bags into their duffels. "We can leave most of our stuff here and take our essentials with us. Let's pray to whatever that there's a ranger there or something, but the odds aren't exactly in our favor," Enzan laughed darkly. "We can hike the rest of the way back to town. It's far, but hopefully we'll find someone who can give us a ride. If not, we may be walking for a couple days." He closed his duffel with a jerk of the zipper.<p>

"But what about the others?" demanded Netto.

Enzan shook his head. He knew Netto was fiercely loyal to his friends, and he wouldn't leave them behind if he thought he could help them. But by now, Enzan was quite convinced that there was no one left to help. And there was no more time. There was no time to mourn, no time to panic, no time for anything really, except getting the hell away from there.

Meiru tossed a bunch of clothes and hair products from her bag and blinked away her tears. Now wasn't the time to start crying again, she needed to be strong and she knew that she could be. But why in the world had she packed so many useless things? She barely listened to the conversastion between the two boys as she stuffed her sleeping bag up. "This should be all I need," she said, and if her voice cracked a bit, no one mentioned it.

They were all ready. They peeked out and looked around the clearing, before hurtling out of the tent. All of them were running, more or less. The weight of their bags slowed them down, but they hurried on. The trees were looming over them on either side, and every odd shadow, every unexplained noise, just gave them more reason to hurry onward. When they got to the parking lot, Enzan nodded in the direction of the cabin, half-way visible through the fog.

"We should check the ranger's cabin. There might be something useful in there. Or, at the very least, we could probably find some extra flashlights."

"But it's locked, isn't it?" asked Meiru quietly.

Enzan's gaze turned cold. "That won't be a problem." He strode off into the fog.

Netto looked after him uneasily. Being separated from him, even when he was only a short distance away, scared him. Though he was afraid to admit it.

So he followed after the older boy, assuming Meiru would follow as well. However, it wasn't the front door that Enzan went to first. He walked around the back and found a small shed. It had a lock, but it was so old and rusting that he had no trouble pulling it off. He yanked the rotting wooden doors open forcefully, with a jerk.

"I thought so," he said triumphantly.

Netto peered over his shoulder hesitantly. The shed was very typical and ordinary of any garden shed, though many of its items had not been used in some years. Moldy and dusty shelves held an array of tools, rusted and smudged with dirt. Netto held back as his friend entered the dark shed and came back out with something in his hands. Something long. Something sharp.

It was an ax.

"This will come in handy, don't you think?" Enzan asked with a slight smirk. He made his way back around the cabin, Netto trailing at his heels, wondering what the older boy was going to do with the ax. He didn't have to wait long to find out.

Enzan did not hesitate as he approached the door. He didn't even try the knob. He merely brought the sharp edge of the tool down hard on the wooden door, it's chopping sound cutting through the silence as surely as it hacked through the door. Within a few minutes, the door had completely fallen from its hinges and they stepped inside. Meiru hung back outside, but was still within sight.

"A phone. Look for a phone," Enzan whispered.

The boys went to opposite sides of the messy and cluttered room. Netto, on the right, was shuffling through piles of things on the small desk, papers, pamphlets, and office supplies. Enzan took the left side, the side with the bed and dresser. He checked the table tops and every surface that could possibly have a phone. Even a two-way radio would have made him happy.

After discovering nothing among the clutter of the dresser top, he reluctantly searched the bed, throwing back the covers and feeling around with his hands. When he began feeling under the pillow, his hand made contact with something hard. He picked up the object and stared at it. A gun. He gripped it, cold steel foreign and unfamiliar in his hand. He glanced back to make sure Netto hadn't seen, and slipped the weapon into his pocket next to the useless weight of his PET.

He turned around to ask Netto if he'd found anything when he saw the brown-haired boy holding a receiver to his ear. In the next moment, he had slammed it back down into it's cradle. "It's dead," he whispered.

Enzan couldn't say he was surprised.

The smaller boy's figure hunched over, trembling slightly. "Why? Why us?"

"Netto," he said to his friend. "I want to tell you something." The smaller boy turned to him. "When we first got here, and we heard a scream that first night, you remember? They told us it was because of a bear."

Netto nodded.

"There are no bears in this forest, Netto." When Netto didn't reply, he continued. "And when I got locked into the library, when she let me out the next morning, the librarian warned me not to come here. She said it was dangerous, though she wouldn't tell me why." Abruptly, Enzan turned and punched the wall. "I should have realized! I should have told you all, or gotten us out of here when I had the chance! I shouldn't have… I should…" He didn't even know what would have helped, if he could have prevented any of this. But it felt good to let out his frustration and, dare he admit it, his fear.

"No, Enzan, don't blame yourself! This isn't your fault at all, in any way! If anything, it's my fault! It was my idea to come here, to go camping here!"

Enzan shook his head, but couldn't say anything. Netto came over to him, to put his hands on Enzan's shoulders.

"We can't give up now. It's no one's fault and we can't start thinking like that. We will get out of here, together."

Enzan took a shaky breath and looked up into Netto's determined brown eyes. He almost laughed. He should have known the younger teen would end up being the one to keep him together. He still wasn't convinced, but he made himself grin and nod at his friend. His only friend. Enzan determined right then that, even if something happened to him, he would make sure Netto made it through this alright.

They didn't say anything more as they left, but clomped noisily down the stairs and made their way out. Meiru's figure was visible a few meters away, leaning over their small pile of duffel bags. Enzan picked up the ax again. At Netto's questioning glance he explained with a tiny, humorless grin, "For self-defence of course."

"Oh… Of course."

When Meiru saw it, she eyed the ax but said nothing, instead, hefting onto her shoulders the supplies they would need.

"Wait," said Netto. "The bathroom… Maybe we should go before we leave?" he asked uncertainly.

Enzan nodded. "We won't be able to use one for a while. It would probably be a good idea to grab toilet paper too." He looked at his two companions.

Meiru shook her head. "I… don't want to."

Netto looked between her and the direction of the toilets. "Will you be okay here by yourself?"

She wrapped her arms around herself, but nodded. "Just hurry."

The other two headed towards the small faculities. They pushed open the door. It smelled of something terrible but Enzan merely wrinkled his nose and complained about public restrooms, then went straight to the paper towel dispencer and started taking handfuls of sheets. Netto walked towards the back stall.

Enzan continued pulling paper towels out when he heard a choking noise. Without a second thought, he darted around to find Netto. He was staring wide eyed at something in one of the stalls. The white-haired boy came around behind him, covering the brown eyes with his own hand. He himself took a glance at what was in the stall.

Red. Red. It was like all he could see was red. Smeared on the tiled walls, over the white ceramic of the toilet. Over a very familiar face frozen in an unfamiliar maniacal grin.

He led Netto out and made him take a few deep breaths before returning to Meiru.

When they were together again, she noticed Netto's expression. "Is… is something wrong?"

The boy managed a shaky smile. "The toilets are out of service."

Enzan glanced sideways at his friend. So he could lie when he wanted to.

Meiru nodded quietly and finally they started walking down the dirt road they had come up. Their footsteps made little noise. But the silence was deafening.

They took several breaks throughout the hike. The luggage was hard to carry, afterall, even though they packed light. On their third stop, they decided to have lunch. Peanut butter smeared hastily onto sliced bread.

It was too quiet.

"You know," started Netto. "Whenever I eat peanut butter I always want a glass of milk afterwards."

"We didn't bring any, Netto."

"I know," he replied to the older boy. "I was just saying. On a normal day I would have had at least five sandwiches and probably some chips or cookies or something and a really tall glass of milk…"

The blue-eyed boy smirked wryly. "You would have had more than that."

"Hey! Not nice!"

"But true," Meiru said, entering the conversation.

"You two are ganging up on me!"

They laughed quietly. They could almost pretend that…

* * *

><p>Meiru looked at Enzan and Netto, walking side by side in front of her as she trailed along behind. She knew that Enzan didn't trust her enough to let his guard down and let her know what he was really thinking; she briefly pondered on whether or not he would act differently if she were gone. Would he let his guard down with just Netto? Was she a hindrance? Or was her presence keeping them strong, helping them take charge and stay calm? Maybe. But probably not. However, Netto would never let her see him as anything other than brave and confident. He was always optimistic and smiling for his friends. For her. Even now, he turned back every now and again to make sure she was there and offer a small grin. But it was beginning to grow darker. The night was inevitable, as was the darkness that accompanied it, and they kept walking until they could barely see anything in front of them.<p>

Enzan stopped and pulled out two flashlights. He handed one to Netto and clicked on the other for himself. Meiru didn't bother to complain about this. "What do you want to do?" he asked. "We could stop for awhile, try to sleep, or we could keep going."

"I don't think we should stop," whispered Meiru. Without a flashlight of her own, she huddled closer to them, reaching for Netto's sleeve in the darkness.

"Yeah, let's keep going for a while longer, Enzan," agreed Netto. "At least until we decide we're hungry for dinner or something."

The older boy nodded in consent and they continued walking.

However, it wasn't long until their small bit of peace was disturbed.

The voices again. Giggling, laughing, almost as if they were mocking them. It was definitely children's voices, the giggling of children as they gather around the victim of playground teasing. The three stopped and started looking around frantically. There was no discernible source; the sound was simply everywhere, surrounding them.

Meiru covered her ears. "Please stop!" she screamed. "Whatever you are, go away! Leave us alone!"

If anything, the voices became louder. And then something else.

Shadowy figures, pitch black, the darkness seeming to ooze off of them, appeared among the trees and foliage. They were human shaped but didn't have any real features. If once they did, they were burned away, worn down by dust and time. All that was left was a blackness so deep they could even discern it from the shadows of the night. And the things began moving closer.

"Run!" shouted Netto. He dashed off in the opposite direction, trying to stay on the road.

Enzan waited a moment for one of them to get nearer. Then, suddenly, he swung the ax down on the closest of them. It sliced clean through, splattering a hot, wet liquid all over the white-haired boy. It burned wherever it touched him, turning the skin an angry red.

Enzan cried out and dropped his weapon. The thing he had hit began to crumple in on itself, but it was taking the ax with it. He didn't stay to watch as he began chasing after the brown haired boy. Enzan took off down, the road, abandoned his bag, and just focused on keeping sight of Netto within the bouncing beam of his flashlight.

Meiru was frozen to the spot, staring in horror as a spindly black hand (_a__hand__charred__to__the__bone_, she thought) reached for her. She was staring into the empty black sockets of a faceless being, the horrible, featureless face locking up her joints. In her terror, she wanted to be as far from there as she could. But in her terror, she was unable to move. The moment the creature grabbed a hold of her, a burning fire erupted under her skin and her voice broke free.

It wasn't until they heard the terrified scream that they realized Meiru had not been following them.

Netto immediately stopped. "Meiru!" he screamed, alarmed.

He was about to turn back for his friend, but Enzan caught up and his strong grip on his arm stopped him. "Keep running, you idiot!"

"Enzan, let me go! Meiru's back there! She needs our help!"

"There's nothing we can do for her now, just _run_!"

He had to be dragged the first few steps before he reluctantly complied. The two boys dashed off into the night, the flashlight beams bobbing unevenly as they ran. When they couldn't push themselves any farther, they stopped to rest, breathing heavily. They were exhausted, emotionally and physically.

Netto broke down, sobbing. "Meiru… Meiru, I'm sorry!" he cried. Enzan looked over at him sadly and placed a hand comfortingly on his shoulder. The younger boy took that as an invitation and threw himself at the older of the two.

Enzan wrapped his arms around the brown haired boy comfortingly. "I'm sorry, Netto. We'll get out of this. I swear to you, we'll get out of this somehow."

"I don't know how. I don't know how we'll escape them. It's so far to the town…"

"You'll be safe. I promise you, we will live to see the day. But we have to keep going, come on."

They continued hiking down the dirt road at a brisk pace. Enzan's watch read eleven-oh-four. But it felt like time was passing so slowly. After a while, the lights on their flashlights began to dim, so they were only using one now, to conserve energy. They trudged along tiredly, too tired to walk, but too scared to stop. It was like that for hours.

At just past three, the voices appeared again.

"Enzan…" Netto wimpered.

The Ijuuin boy grabbed the hand of the younger and pulled him along, trying to ignore the sounds as best they could. It didn't work.

The voices grew louder and sometimes even a word or two amongst the laughter could be made out. But soon they died out and Enzan, relieved, let out a sigh.

But it was too soon for that.

Just ahead of them, four figures stood. It was too dark to make them out.

"They may be dangerous, but they seem to be slow," whispered Enzan. His grip on Netto's hand tightened. "When I count to three, we're going to run past them."

Netto nodded slightly. The white-haired boy caught it out of the corner of his eye.

"Ready…one…"

The figures lurched closer, stumbling, and halting in their steps. Like they were injured, or in pain.

"…two…"

Enzan suddenly recognized two of the monsters, leaving him able to figure out who the other two were by default. Before Netto could notice them, however, he shouted out the last number.

"…three!"

They made a mad dash, sprinting into the gap right in the middle of them. Enzan made it past but he heard Netto cry out behind him. He grimaced and kept running. There was no time to stop and check to make sure he was okay, but the brown-haired boy continued running behind him so he had to assume that whatever had happened wasn't serious.

They ran for a long while. Even when they were sure they were past the monsters, they kept running. It wasn't until Netto stumbled and fell that Enzan stopped. Both boys were breathing heavily, their breath making little puffs of steam in the cool night air.

Netto was holding his left arm, blood oozing down and through his fingers. There was a long gash running from his shoulder to his elbow.

"Dammit," Enzan swore, ripping off his own sleeve and using it as a makeshift bandage to wrap around the bleeding wound. He tied it tightly, hoping to staunch the bleeding.

"Meiru," gasped Netto with a small sob. "…with the ax. It was Meiru with the ax!" He let out a choked gasp, obviously trying to hold his tears at bay and failing miserably.

"Netto," Enzan whispered sadly. "It wasn't her. Not anymore. We have to keep going."

The brown haired boy nodded, but didn't look the slightest bit convinced. He stood, not bothering to brush himself off. They were both already covered in dirt and grime no matter what they did.

They kept going, and for another hour they had some peace. They had made it already to the paved road that would lead them to town, though there were no cars and obviously wouldn't be for quite some time. This area was out of the way of everything else. Though Enzan knew it was only a matter of time before the creatures appeared again. Or rather, their friends…

Sure enough, Netto soon halted in his tired footsteps and was gazing off into the fog. Enzan followed his gaze. The haze of white cleared a little for a brief moment and they were able to get their first good glimpse of what was chasing them.

Just ahead were their friends, Tohru and Yaito. Or what was left of them. Yaito's body had begun to decay, her skin was burnt, peeling, and rotting. Several large gashes were sliced across her shoulders, abdomen, legs, and probably her back as well. Clumps of dried and flaking blood fell from her body every time she moved. When she did move it was in slow, jerky motions, like a broken doll. Beside her, Tohru had only one large wound where the wooden piece of debris still protruded. His head was lolling to the side, like he had no control of it. His features were as terrifyingly blank as they were when they saw him motionless on the floor of the old house.

Netto took a step back, but a sound from behind made him freeze. He turned slowly, as if in slow motion.

Behind them, Dekao's mutilated body, barely standing, was beside Meiru, who was covered in red, angry welts and ugly black spots where her skin was horribly burned. He might have thought she was still alive, but her face… it was Meiru's face but it wasn't. Her features were frozen in complete agony and terror, like he'd never seen on anyone before. In her hand she still had the ax.

They were trapped. The only way around them was…

"The woods!" shouted Enzan. The two boys started running and their four friends, seemingly faster now, jerked their limbs after them. They got a good lead, but they couldn't keep it up for long.

Suddenly Enzan pulled his friend (his only friend) to a stop and leaned against a tree, gasping for breath once again.

"Netto." The brown haired boy looked at his companion desperately, questioningly. Enzan had pulled from his pocket the pistol he'd gotten from the ranger's station. Netto's eyes widened in shock.

Enzan undid the safety. It clicked resolutely in the quiet of the seemingly peaceful forest. But they both knew that it wouldn't last…

"It's almost morning. They don't seem to come out in the morning." Netto nodded. "I want you to run to the town. We should be very close to it by now."

"What about y—"

"I'll stay back and buy you some time."

"Enzan, no!" He rejected the idea immediately.

But the other nodded, already having come to this decision. "It's obvious now if one of us is going to make it out alive…" He stood quietly for a moment, contemplating. Or perhaps he was gathering his courage. Either way, it didn't matter. A rotting arm suddenly made its way into his line of vision and grabbed at his shoulder. He moved out of its way quickly as Yaito and Tohru came stumbling around the tree.

"Netto, run! Run now!"

"But—"

"_Now_!"

"I'm not leaving you here!"

Enzan looked into his friend's eyes and knew that he wouldn't change his mind. It was too late now, anyway. He took up a stance in front of the younger boy, trying to offer him a minimum of protection.

"Alright, you bastards, it's time to get your just rewards!" He shot off one bullet. Two. The sound echoed into the night.

It didn't stop them. They continued stumbling towards him.

Enzan started laughing despairingly. "Nothing works! Haha… Hahahaha! That's just our luck, huh?"

He stopped and his eyes turned steely. Meiru swung the ax down and he tried to dodge, but it sliced clean through his shirt and tore open his side. He stared at the gaping wound for a moment.

"_Enzan_!" he heard Netto scream.

With a desperate cry, he shot off the entire round into the creatures. "_Damn __you __all __to __hell!_"

Netto rushed forward, swinging the flashlight like a club.

Nothing worked. Netto and Enzan fell back against a nearby tree, landing heavily in the dirt. Enzan's wound bled profusely and he tried to stop it by applying pressure, pressing his hand to it. It continued to bleed, mixing with blood running off of Netto's wound, as the monsters descended on them.

"_You __cannot__ leave,__" _whispered a voice from the mountain.

Enzan sighed and sat back in the dark. A slight glow from the east told him the sun was probably rising. He couldn't see him, but he could feel Netto still beside him. He smiled. "I told you we'd see the day, Netto." And he closed his eyes.

* * *

><p>A news reporter quickly straightened out her bangs and cleared her throat before the cameraman gave her the signal to start talking.<p>

"I'm here at the site of the Silvermann Campgrounds, a local recreational area for camping and hiking, and also the site of a tragic accident. A group of teenagers, among them the well-known Ijuuin Enzan and Hikari Netto, were discovered dead yesterday after they did not return from their camping trip. Parents of the missing teens became worried and contacted the local authorities, who discovered the bodies early yesterday afternoon. The cause of death is yet to be determined. But the campgrounds themselves have a mysterious past and a ghost town that is rumored to be genuinely haunted, Not only that, there is a history of strange disappearances in this area. Could this just be another part of the mystery? More on this story to come."

"And we're done!" said the man behind the camera. "Great, let's get back to the studio. This place is giving me the creeps."

The reporter looked around. It seemed like a forest like any other, so it must have been the dark events that happened there that made the place seem foreboding. It was a little foggy, but there was a pleasant breeze rustling the leaves, and birds chirped sweet melodies in the branches of trees. It didn't seem that scary, she convinced herself. She took a step towards the forest.

"Come on, I'm hungry! Let's grab some lunch!"

She jerked back to look at him, and with a last look at the forest, climbed into the news van and drove away. There were no such things as ghosts anyway. Right?


End file.
